Samsung Bio is bringing its financial hot streak into 2026, with no signs of stopping\u2014save for a potential worker strike bubbling beneath the surface of its record-high revenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The South Korean CDMO reported <\/a>first-quarter revenues of 1.26 trillion Korean won ($851.9 million), good for a massive 257.6 billion Korean won ($174.4 million) boost over the same period last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The solid momentum was largely driven by \u201cfull utilization\u201d across its four manufacturing plants, with cumulative contract value over the quarter coming out to $21.4 billion reflecting \u201ccontinued demand from global clients,\u201d the company said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the first quarter, Samsung Biologics delivered stable growth, supported by consistent execution across our manufacturing network and continued demand from clients,\u201d CEO John Rim noted in a company release, adding that the company remains focused on \u201cquality excellence, operational consistency, and strategic investment to support sustainable long-term growth.\u201d<\/p>\n As business at its more recently opened fifth plant<\/a> ramps up,\u00a0Samsung Bio said it’s confident to meet its 2026 revenue forecast<\/a> of 15% to 20% annual growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n That guidance includes contributions to come from the acquisition of its first U.S. site, a spot in Rockville, Maryland with 60,000-liters of drug substance capacity that Samsung Bio snapped up from GSK. The deal retained the 500 workers at the site and officially wrapped up<\/a> earlier this month.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While the CDMO pays mind to its emerging U.S. footprint and growing global workforce, trouble is brewing back at its home campus in Songdo, Incheon.\u00a0<\/p>\n A labor union strike has been written on the walls since late March, when the company\u2019s labor union \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d voted<\/a> in favor of a strike. At the time, the union warned of \u201cdeep structural concerns\u201d regarding management at the company and lower wage conditions despite the company\u2019s swelling profits.\u00a0<\/p>\n The vote set the plan for a phased strike in motion, with a rally planned for April 22 and the strike set for May 1, lest management present a \u201ccredible and autonomous proposal.\u201d The union represents about 75% of total Samsung Bio employees, according to its release at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, April 22 has come, with seemingly no sign of an agreement between the union and management. As such, a 2,200-wide group held the initial rally for an hour outside of Samsung Bio\u2019s Bio Campus 1, the union reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Samsung Bio spokesperson explained in an emailed statement that the rally was an \u201corderly, non-working hour event organized by the labor union during ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt did not involve any work stoppage, and all manufacturing operations at our facility remain stable and unaffected,\u201d the company representative continued. \u201cWe remain focused on maintaining stable operations and ensuring the uninterrupted supply of medicines to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the discourse stems from a November leak of personnel-related documents, which management has failed to \u201capologize for or take responsibility for,\u201d according to the labor union\u2019s chair, Park Jaesung.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven now, we have not abandoned the chance for dialogue,\u201d Jaesung emphasized. \u201cBut if management continues to refuse meaningful talks, we will show our determination through the planned strike action.\u201d<\/p>\n The leak contained sensitive personal information about 5,000 employees, including addresses, salaries and performance reviews, Business Korea reported<\/a> at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the union is seeking broader changes at the company, with Jaesung calling the mission a \u201cfight to change the company\u2019s decision-making structure.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the concerns lay with Samsung Bio\u2019s parent company, Samsung Electronics, and the \u201clack of independent bargaining authority\u201d the CDMO holds within its larger conglomerate, the union previously said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other issues include compensation in comparison to the company\u2019s competitors. Samsung Bio\u2019s starting salary is at \u201cless than 50 million won,\u201d while those who start at Lotte Biologics are in line for 54 million won, Park said, as reported<\/a> by Business Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, Samsung Bio hit record sales<\/a> of 4.6 trillion Korean won ($3.1 billion). It also became the first<\/a> Korean biopharma to pass the 2-trillion-won annual profit threshold. However, losses could result from a production delay if the strike materializes as planned from May 1 to May 5, according to Business Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samsung Bio is bringing its financial hot streak into 2026, with no signs of stopping\u2014save for a potential…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[519,512,2507,31893,1128,4602,127,505,808,11793],"class_list":["post-56485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung-biologics","tag-asia","tag-cdmo","tag-earnings","tag-fierce-pharma-homepage","tag-manufacturing","tag-pharma","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-biologics","tag-strike","tag-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56485","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=56485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}