Samsung chip workers flee to SK Hynix for $476,000 bonus

On 28 July 2026, reports emerged that Samsung Electronics’ foundry division is losing engineers to rival SK Hynix, drawn by bonuses of $476,000 per employee while Samsung’s logic-chip workers receive $135,000.

High-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which power artificial-intelligence accelerators, sit at the centre of the talent war.

A June 2026 survey by Samsung’s labour union found that 81.5% of foundry employees want to leave within two years, and nearly half of all semiconductor workers expressed the same wish. Union chief Choi Seung-ho said in April 2026 that more than 200 members had already moved to SK Hynix in the preceding four months.

One engineer, identified as Lee, said his entire 30-person team except two leads applied for an SK Hynix posting in July 2026, though he and a colleague were rejected for entry-level roles.

The bonus gap stems from how the companies distribute profit shares. SK Hynix agreed last year to pay 10% of operating profits to employees, yielding this year’s $476,000 per person, mostly in cash. Samsung, after union negotiations, agreed in May 2026 to pay 10.5% of semiconductor profits as bonuses, but payouts are tied to each division’s bottom line: memory workers get about $400,000, while foundry staff receive only $135,000.

The exodus jeopardises Samsung’s unique advantage in the HBM market. Samsung is the only memory maker with an in-house foundry, which is critical for producing the advanced logic chips in next-generation HBM4 stacks. Losing foundry engineers may disrupt collaboration between its memory and foundry divisions, potentially letting SK Hynix — which is now hiring foundry engineers — catch up.

SK Hynix’s ascent began after Samsung downsized its HBM team in 2019, betting the market would stay niche. The AI boom then supercharged demand, making SK Hynix the global HBM leader.

Both companies are investing aggressively: they plan a $2 trillion semiconductor cluster in Yongin by 2040. SK Hynix added 2,152 employees in the first half of 2026 and aims to double capacity in five years, while Samsung plans to hire 60,000 over five years. Yet South Korea’s chip industry faces a projected shortage of 54,000 workers by 2031.

In July 2026, Samsung won an injunction barring two former chip workers from joining SK Hynix for 18 months, with the court citing the need to protect core technology.