South Korea’s labour minister called on the country’s major tech firms to share the spoils of their massive windfall profits, warning that unprecedented chip-sector gains stemming from the AI boom risked widening a gap in inequality.
In an interview, Kim Young-hoon told Reuters that companies like Samsung Electronics that outperform profit targets should consider sharing excess gains with suppliers, subcontractors and their workers, after deducting taxes, given their contributions to corporate growth.
The South Korean government, businesses, unions and suppliers should engage in a public dialogue on how to share such “excess profits” and narrow the gap between large conglomerates and smaller suppliers, he said.
Kim, a former labour activist who was appointed by left-leaning South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, helped broker a last-minute pay deal between Samsung and its union that averted a major strike and delivered hefty bonuses to its memory-chip workers.
His distribution proposal, made in his first interview with foreign media since the Samsung deal, points to some of the unusual ideas that top South Korean policymakers are considering as they grapple with the massive windfall the country has received from the global artificial intelligence boom.
“We should set new rules for distribution through social dialogue,” said Kim. “It is undeniable that Samsung’s remarkable achievements are the result of the dedicated efforts of labour and management.”
“But there are also 1,700 suppliers, as well as contributions from local communities, including the supply of water and electricity.”
Profits for Samsung and peer SK Hynix have soared as the rising use of AI stoked demand for memory chips.
Samsung has agreed to give special bonuses to employees if it achieves more than 200 trillion won ($129.3 billion) in annual operating profit from 2026 to 2028.
Reuters
