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<\/p>\nA strike announced by 50,000 workers at Samsung unexpectedly fueled a market capitalization surge for Micron Technology \u2014 with a single-day increase of 4.8%, breaking through the 900 billion US dollar mark for the first time and propelling it to become the 12th largest company in the United States. If the strike materializes, it will impact approximately 3% of global memory production capacity. Amid heightened demand driven by the AI boom, Micron could benefit from both increased demand and rising prices, bringing it just one step away from entering the top ten largest companies in the United States.<\/p>\n
The breakdown of labor-management negotiations at Samsung unexpectedly became a catalyst for Micron Technology’s market capitalization to surpass a historic threshold.<\/p>\n
On May 13 local time, negotiations between the union and management at Samsung Electronics failed, with more than 50,000 workers threatening to launch an 18-day full-scale strike starting May 21. Following the news, Micron Technology\u2019s stock price closed up 4.8% at $803.63 on the same day, with its market capitalization exceeding $900 billion for the first time, reaching $906.28 billion, making it the 12th largest company by market value in the United States.<\/p>\n
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If the strike at Samsung materializes, it is expected to impact approximately 3% of global memory chip production capacity, further exacerbating an already tight supply situation. For Micron, this means dual benefits in terms of demand and pricing \u2014 its chip products are already in short supply due to the wave of investments in AI infrastructure, and damage to competitors\u2019 production capacity will directly amplify this advantage.<\/p>\n
Negotiations Collapse, Strike Imminent<\/p>\n
According to a Reuters report on May 13, Samsung union representative Choi Seung-ho told reporters outside the negotiation room in Seoul: “Not a single issue raised by the union has been addressed, and I deeply regret this.” He also stated that there are currently no plans to resume negotiations before the strike, but he would be willing to consider if the company presents ‘a formal proposal.’<\/p>\n
The two-day negotiation, mediated by the South Korean government, still ended in failure. The core disagreement between labor and management centered on the bonus distribution plan: the union demanded that 15% of operating profits be allocated to bonuses without a cap, while Samsung only proposed a 10% allocation, reflecting a significant gap in their positions. Samsung stated it would continue efforts to prevent the strike, while the union is seeking to clear legal obstacles to launching the strike.<\/p>\n
If the strike proceeds as scheduled from May 21 to June 7, the number of participants will exceed 50,000. Investors are closely monitoring developments, as any production disruptions could ripple through the global semiconductor supply chain.<\/p>\n
Supply Gap Widens, Micron Directly Benefits<\/p>\n
The memory chip market is already experiencing a historic supply shortage, with the explosive construction of AI data centers making memory chips a bottleneck in the entire industry chain. Micron is the world\u2019s third-largest memory chip manufacturer, with a market share second only to Samsung and SK Hynix.<\/p>\n
According to estimates by Jefferies, Samsung\u2019s strike could affect approximately 3% of global memory chip production capacity. Once Samsung\u2019s output is impaired, customer orders are expected to accelerate toward Micron, compounded by expectations of further increases in chip prices, significantly improving Micron\u2019s revenue outlook.<\/p>\n
SK Hynix also benefited from market sentiment, with its stock price rising 7.7% on the day in the local Korean market. Sandisk, which competes with Samsung in the NAND flash memory chip sector, saw its stock price decline slightly by 0.3%, closing at $1,440.<\/p>\n
Market capitalization surged, nearing the top ten nationwide in the U.S.<\/p>\n
This stock price increase propelled Micron Technology’s market capitalization above $900 billion for the first time, leaving a gap of only about $50 billion with Eli Lilly and Co., ranked 11th. The current top ten most valuable companies in the U.S. are NVIDIA, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Broadcom, Tesla, Meta, Berkshire Hathaway, and Walmart.<\/p>\n
Over the past 12 months, Micron Technology\u2019s stock price has risen more than eightfold, driven primarily by the expansion of AI-powered memory demand. The labor-management crisis at Samsung further fueled this upward trend, drawing heightened market attention to potential shifts in the supply dynamics of memory chips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A strike announced by 50,000 workers at Samsung unexpectedly fueled a market capitalization surge for Micron Technology \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[127,276],"class_list":{"0":"post-15983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-samsung-electronics","8":"tag-samsung","9":"tag-samsung-electronics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}