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Samsung and SK Hynix employees rumored to receive large bonuses next year
Saturday, November 29, 2025 at 08:51 AM
There is speculation regarding high employee bonuses at Samsung and SK Hynix for the upcoming year, potentially reaching approximately 20 million yen.
Context
Speculation is rising that Samsung and SK Hynix will award record-breaking performance bonuses in early 2025, with rumors suggesting payouts of up to 20 million yen ($135,000) per employee. This surge is driven by historic demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) used in global AI infrastructure. SK Hynix recently implemented a new compensation model that allocates 10% of its annual operating profit to bonuses, following a record 7.03 trillion won quarterly profit in late 2024.
For investors, these aggressive incentives signal a fierce talent war and robust earnings expectations within the semiconductor sector. Samsung is under significant pressure to match these figures to retain top engineers as it ramps up production of HBM3E and HBM4 chips to compete for Nvidia's business. These high payouts underscore the extreme profitability of the AI hardware supply chain as manufacturers prioritize talent retention to secure market dominance through 2025.
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