SK Hynix Reaches Tentative Wage Deal: A Look at Performance Bonuses

The labor and management of SK Hynix have reached a tentative agreement on this year's wage and collective bargaining.

The tentative agreement reportedly includes a 6.3 percent wage increase, along with a plan to pay 40 percent of the Profit-Sharing (PS) performance bonus in cash and the remaining 60 percent in company shares.

The SK Hynix labor union held an emergency temporary delegates meeting this afternoon (the 20th) to explain the 2026 tentative wage and collective bargaining agreement to its members.

Previously, SK Hynix labor and management agreed to abolish the cap on PS, which is funded by 10 percent of the previous year's operating profit, and maintain this system for 10 years.

Under that past agreement, 80 percent of the PS was to be paid in cash in the corresponding year, with the remaining 20 percent deferred and paid in cash at 10 percent each over two years.

However, the recent negotiations introduced some changes to the existing performance bonus payment system.

Under the new scheme, 40 percent of the PS is paid in cash in the corresponding year, while the remaining 60 percent is provided in company shares.

Among the shares provided, 40 percent can be sold in the corresponding year, while 20 percent is deferred.

If SK Hynix achieves an annual operating profit of 250 trillion won this year, as expected by the brokerage industry, the PS funding source will reach 25 trillion won, which is 10 percent of the operating profit.

Simply dividing this by the total number of employees, which is approximately 35,000, the average PS per person is expected to be around 700 million won (before taxes).

The actual payment amount will vary depending on job rank and individual evaluations.

Applying this to the revised performance bonus system, based on the average payment per person, about 280 million won would be received in cash, and the remaining 420 million won or so would be received in company shares.

In addition, the tentative agreement reportedly contains provisions such as a 6.3 percent wage hike and an increase in internal welfare points.

The union plans to soon hold a delegate vote to finalize the agreement.

However, because the actual payment method has changed just one year after labor and management agreed to maintain the performance bonus system for 10 years, and because the actual compensation scale may fluctuate depending on stock price changes, opposition from members is expected to continue for the time being.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.