Seoul: Unionized non-manufacturing workers at the chip giant SK hynix Inc. have entered into wage negotiations with management, demanding an 8.25 percent pay increase, industry sources said. The two sides initiated their first round of talks for the 2025 wage deal on Wednesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the union, which is one of the company's two major unions, is advocating for an 8.25 percent increase in salary and other benefits. This demand is made in light of the company's record-breaking financial performance last year. In 2024, the company and the union settled on a 5.7 percent wage increase.
In the previous year, SK hynix reported a record net profit of 19.8 trillion won (approximately US$14.4 billion) and sales amounting to 66.2 trillion won, driven by a surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM). The company also awarded its employees additional bonuses totaling 1,500 percent of their base salary earlier this year.
SK hynix conducts separate wage negotiations with its unions for office and manufacturing workers.