More than 8 out of 10 employees in the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) division of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division are considering leaving the company.

This figure is more than double the rate of those considering leaving the memory business division within the same sector, a trend interpreted as a direct reflection of employee dissatisfaction over the widening gap in performance bonuses between the memory and non-memory divisions.

According to industry sources on July 16, a survey conducted by the Samsung Electronics branch of the National Samsung Electronics Union (the largest labor union at the company) between June 17 and 30, which polled 8,297 employees in the DS division regarding their "intention to leave within the next two years," found that 81.5% of foundry division employees expressed a desire to resign.

Approximately 62% of respondents in the foundry division indicated their intention to leave was "very high," while 19% said it was "high."

This is the highest rate among the seven organizations within the DS division, exceeding the overall average of 49.5% by more than 30 percentage points.

The intention to leave was particularly high in major non-memory business units, following the foundry division, with System LSI at 75.4% and the Semiconductor Research Center at 60.6%.

In contrast, the memory business division stood at 32.7%, which is below the average.

This significant disparity in turnover intention across business units is interpreted as being caused by the special management performance bonus system for the semiconductor sector, which was introduced through a labor-management agreement in May and is structured to be highly favorable to the memory division.

The special management performance bonus is funded by 10.5% of operating profit (business performance).

Consequently, assuming an annual operating profit of 300 trillion won for Samsung Electronics, employees in the memory business division, which leads the DS division's performance, could receive a total of 600 million won. This includes approximately 550 million won in special management performance bonuses paid in company stock (before tax, based on an annual salary of 100 million won) and 50 million won in Overall Performance Incentives (OPI), which are capped at 50% of annual salary.

Meanwhile, employees in System LSI and foundry are expected to receive a total of 210 million won, consisting of 160 million won in special management performance bonuses and 50 million won in OPI.

It is reported that employees in the Device eXperience (DX) division, which handles home appliances, TVs, and smartphones, will receive company stock payments of around 6 million won.

The union held its first kickoff meeting for the DS division policy committee on this day to share the survey results, discuss future responses regarding government-led mega-projects, and plan the schedule for the 2027 wage and collective agreement negotiations.

Choi Seung-ho, chairman of the union, stated, "The results of this survey directly reflect the sense of crisis on the ground," adding, "The company must take this seriously and promptly prepare effective measures to prevent the outflow of talent."