01
There was once a group of keyboard warriors in China who argued:
“Don’t look at the hard work and long hours of tech companies like BYD, CATL, and Xiaomi. When they become the world’s number one, defeat European and American companies, and take over market share, the good days for Chinese workers will come!”
So, endure a little more hardship, the big picture is still ahead!
Now, the role model has arrived.
Recently, the demand for AI chips has driven a surge in profits for South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix, and their employees’ bonuses have made global workers envious.
In 2025, SK Hynix’s operating profit reached 47.2 trillion won, a new record high.
Last September, their management felt the situation was not good, and decided to revise the dividend rules, wanting to reduce or not distribute money to the workers.
But the South Korean labor union wouldn’t allow it, and through four months of high-intensity collective bargaining + progressive escalation of protests + clear institutional demands, they finally reached a historic agreement on September 1, 2025:
Canceling the previous bonus cap of 1000%, and instead, fixing a 10% share of operating profit within 10 years.
According to this calculation, an employee with an annual salary of 100 million won can actually receive a bonus of 148.2 million won.
And in the first quarter of this year, SK Hynix’s net profit has reached 40.3 trillion won. Cybernews estimates that the average annual bonus will be about 600 million won (about $430,000).
Currently, the average monthly salary in Seoul is only about 4.3 million won (about $3,000). In other words, SK Hynix employees, whether they are working in the cafeteria or as security guards at the entrance, have salaries far higher than other workers in Seoul.
At the end of April this year, South Korean media predicted that SK Hynix employees’ average bonus this year (2026) is expected to reach about 700 million won, equivalent to 3.2 million yuan or $477,000.
Next year (2027), this number may approach $900,000. Investment bank Macquarie even predicts an average of 1 billion won (4.65 million yuan).
What’s the concept? An ordinary engineer at SK Hynix can buy a nice house in Shanghai with a year’s bonus, and this is the average, not an executive’s special case.
Affected by this, the mood of the South Korean public has changed dramatically.
South Korean matchmaking agencies say that the status of SK Hynix employees is now on par with doctors and lawyers.
Kang Eun-seon, senior team leader of the matchmaking company Gayeon, pointed out:
“Since the beginning of the semiconductor super cycle, the popularity of large companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix has continued to rise. Compared to some lawyers whose income is no longer what it used to be, the market clearly prefers engineers with much higher actual incomes.”
On the anonymous workplace community Blind, employees shared that “dating invitations have recently surged.” Some people joked that the combined bonuses of a married couple working at the company next year may exceed 1 billion won.
The company’s work jackets were put on the second-hand platform Karrot for sale at 40,000 won (about 190 yuan), with the advertising slogan “the strongest dating armor,” quickly attracting thousands of views.
SNL Korea filmed a satirical skit:
A luxury store clerk is indifferent to a customer dressed plainly, but immediately changes attitude after seeing the SK Hynix logo, calling the customer “Hynix-sama.”
A joke circulating on social media says: “Now, when SK Hynix employees go on dates, they will humbly say they work at Samsung Electronics. Only when they meet a good-natured person will they admit that they actually work at SK Hynix.”
02
Currently, this chain reaction has spread to Samsung Electronics:
The Samsung labor union demands that bonuses be increased to 15% of operating profit and that the bonus cap of 50% of annual salary be removed. The president of Samsung calls this demand “excessive.”
But if the Samsung boss does not meet this demand, the Samsung National Labor Union will launch an 18-day strike from May 21 to June 7. JPMorgan Chase estimates that this strike could result in a revenue loss of 4 trillion won.
In fact, South Korean bosses don’t really want to share the money, and this is also forced by South Korean workers.
If you don’t force them, you won’t get any money.
For example, in the 2025 annual performance bonus distribution of SK Hynix, the highest profit-sharing bonus received by South Korean local employees is equivalent to 30 months of basic salary, while employees of the Chinese subsidiary only received an average of 8 months.
It is important to know that the supply chain of the Chinese factories of Samsung and Hynix is very important.
Samsung’s Xi’an factory is Samsung’s only overseas NAND flash memory production base, accounting for about 40% of its total production capacity.
SK Hynix’s Wuxi factory, as a core production base, also accounts for about half of the DRAM production.
Currently, the Chinese branch of Hynix has some opinions and is preparing to make a fuss. Some industry insiders have pointed out that if the bonus level of Chinese employees is increased, it will then trigger a chain reaction among employees in North America, Europe, and other regions.
03
Some people say, you’ve said so much, what’s your intention? Are you going to reflect again?
No, do you remember that a famous entrepreneur of ours once said:
High salaries are not conducive to the young people’s struggle.
I hope that the executives of Hynix will carefully study the ideological height of this sentence. We have a company called CATL, which has become the world’s number one, but it is still not arrogant or impetuous:
Insisting on only increasing the salary of grassroots factory employees by a few hundred yuan, the effect is very good.
Not only are the employees grateful, but they also actively and enthusiastically sign up for the “896” 100-day struggle project.
In comparison, Hynix’s method of being “kidnapped” by the labor union and simply and crudely distributing money is extremely naive in management, lacking a sense of the big picture and overall awareness.
They are only limited to taking the company’s profits and sharing them with the employees, and working together with the employees to achieve a win-win situation, which has enhanced the employees’ sense of belonging.
It’s not as good as some of our entrepreneurs, who would rather donate the money (and then secretly take it back, or avoid taxes, and use it to gain fame and qualify as a representative), rather than distribute it to the employees.
Even, they don’t pay the full amount of the five social insurances and one housing fund.
What is this called? This is ability! Skill! Emotional intelligence!
And what about Hynix? They have lost all face for the South Korean chaebols, are manipulated and played by the labor union, and finally signed a profit-sharing agreement that undermines their rights and interests.
This is a betrayal of the bourgeoisie, a betrayal of the shareholders, and is not conducive to struggle!
Seeing this, I also have something to say. In recent years, the self-media likes to tell stories of grand narratives, this number one, that leading the way.
That’s right, there are achievements.
But the so-called “grand” should refer to a collective interest, the interests of most people.
If you only talk about dedication, only talk about struggle, without talking about distribution, without talking about gains, that is not a grand narrative.
That is to impoverish the world and enrich a small group of people!
Moreover, I can give a very clear conclusion that these small groups of people are either thinking about transferring their assets out, or have already transferred their assets out.
What is left for the general public is only the three mountains.
That’s all!
– The End –
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