Samsung union’s strike threat fuels fears of South Korea’s economic slowdown

Samsung-electronics" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="14221" data-entity-type="organization">Samsung Electronics’ biggest labour union is threatening to strike at the height of the global AI chip boom, turning a fight over bonuses into a test of how the industry’s windfall profits should be shared and sparking fears of an economic slowdown in South Korea.The union has warned it will stage an 18-day walkout from May 21 to June 7, raising concerns about production disruptions, customer defections and wider fallout across the global technology supply chain.The dispute comes as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure has driven record profits at South Korean chipmakers, while intensifying pressure on Samsung to defend its leading position in the memory semiconductor market.