Rumor has it that the SK Hynix (SKHY.US) union vetoed the stock bonus plan and labor negotiations are at an impasse

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to reports, the SK Hynix (SKHY.US) trade union vetoed the preliminary salary agreement reached with management last week, and 50.08% of union members voted against it. The union has also vetoed similar preliminary agreements in the past few years, and it is expected that labor and management will resume negotiations.

The agreement that was rejected this time includes a 6.3% increase in basic salary, and employee performance bonuses in the form of 40% cash plus 60% of company shares. Some employees expressed dissatisfaction with this arrangement. The core concern was the high volatility of the company's stock price — SK Hynix's stock price has dropped by about 45% since its peak in June.

Affected by the above news, SK Hynix's stock price once fell 6.8% during early trading in Seoul on Tuesday, dragging down the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) by more than 4%. Samsung Electronics also dropped more than 4%. On the one hand, investors are weighing the risk of escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East, and on the other hand, waiting for the US economic data and corporate earnings to be released this week. The overall market sentiment is cautious.

The deep background of this labor-management disagreement is a dispute over wealth distribution within companies triggered by the global AI spending boom. As the core supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) required for AI systems, SK Hynix's profits have increased dramatically recently, but management and employees have failed to reach a consensus on how to share this “AI dividend.”

It is worth noting that SK Hynix reached a ten-year long-term incentive agreement with employees last year, promising to share 10% of the annual operating profit with employees in cash. In contrast, the stock payment plan agreed last week is thought to have increased the extent to which employee earnings are tied to stock price fluctuations. According to estimates, the company's annual bonus per employee is expected to reach 779 million won (approximately $547,000) in 2026.