Samsung Electronics to pay bonuses in late March to early April next year

Memory division employee earning 80 million won annually could receive 750 million won pretax

High payouts and in-house loans fuel housing price surge across Gyeonggi Province

Employees walk through Samsung Electronics' Seocho office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. [Newsis]
Employees walk through Samsung Electronics' Seocho office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. [Newsis]

Samsung Electronics' semiconductor earnings have pushed the company into the era of 100 trillion won ($74.7 billion) in quarterly operating profit, and employees are now focused on the bonuses they stand to receive. Analysts project that a Device Solutions division memory unit employee earning 80 million won annually could receive a special management performance bonus of around 750 million won. With high bonus expectations already stirring housing prices across Gyeonggi Province, employees have begun posting bonus verification messages online.

According to the Samsung Electronics chapter of the cross-company labor union, Samsung Electronics briefed DS division employees Wednesday on the details of the special management performance bonus and a charitable donation pledge plan.

The special management performance bonus is a scheme Samsung Electronics management and labor agreed to establish in May and introduced this year. It was created alongside the existing OPI (excess profit bonus) rather than as a replacement, and its defining feature is that it carries no upper limit on the payout rate. Forty percent of the bonus pool is distributed across the DS division as a whole, while the remaining 60 percent is allocated differentially based on each business unit's performance. The payout rate for shared organizational units is set at 70 percent of the memory division's rate.

The union also released its own bonus estimate, calculated using the market consensus for Samsung Electronics' annual earnings of around 370 trillion won.

According to the union, an employee in the early-80-million-won annual salary range could receive a pretax bonus — including OPI — of around 750 million won in the memory division, around 530 million won in shared organizational units, and around 240 million won in the System LSI and foundry divisions.

The bonuses are scheduled for payment in late March to early April next year, after a related payment proposal is approved at the annual shareholders' meeting set for March next year.

After deducting taxes at a 45 percent income tax rate and insurance premiums, the entire payout will be made in company shares, with the number of shares calculated based on the share price on the payment date. One-third of the total shares issued may be sold immediately after payment, while the remaining two-thirds are subject to lock-up restrictions — one-third for one year and one-third for two years.

Eligible recipients are employees on the payroll as of Dec. 31 this year, or those on parental, pregnancy, military service, or caregiving leave of up to 90 days, based on the longest period of service within the DS division this year. The payout rate of the organizational unit to which an employee belonged longest in 2026 will apply.

However, employees who voluntarily resign or are dismissed for disciplinary reasons after receiving the bonus must return to the company an amount equivalent to the restricted shares still under lock-up.

Employees may designate between 0.2 and 1.0 percent of their pretax special bonus total as a charitable donation, in increments of 0.2 percentage points. The company plans to finalize individual donation pledges this month.

Amid the buzz, a post by an employee who identified himself as part of a married couple working at Samsung Electronics has gone viral. The post appeared on Blind, an anonymous workplace community app, verified as written by a Samsung Electronics employee identified only as A.

"Looking at the bonus, I feel like I've genuinely escaped being ordinary," A wrote. "I'm a man in my early 30s whose greatest life achievement is getting into this company — and I met my wife here, so we're a DS couple."

"Together we just worked away for five years and bought a house for 800 million won, which has now risen to 1.2 billion won," he added. "We're getting ready to move up to a place in the upper 1 billion won range using an in-house loan." He went on to say: "When I add up the bonuses the two of us will receive going forward, it comes to at least 3 billion won. If things go as expected, it looks like we could quit within five years."

Meanwhile, the number of homes in Gyeonggi Province with a publicly assessed value exceeding 1.2 billion won has nearly doubled in a single year. High-priced housing is expanding rapidly not only in established luxury enclaves such as Seongnam, Suwon and Gwacheon, but also in Anyang, Gwangmyeong and Hanam. Experts say the influence of bonuses and in-house loans from what are colloquially called "Samjeoniks" — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — has spread well beyond Hwaseong's Dongtan district to Yongin's Suji-gu, Suwon's Yeongtong-gu and Hanam, driving a pronounced rise in housing prices across the region.


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