The AI boom continues to bring record revenues to memory manufacturers, but at the same time, it is creating a new business risk. Employees are increasingly demanding their share of surging profits. After SK hynix and Samsung Electronics, this trend has now reached Micron Technology. Workers in Taiwan are demanding that 15% of the company’s operating profit be allocated to employee bonuses under a permanent profit-sharing system.
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Micron previously offered employees in Taiwan annual compensation equivalent to as much as 68 months of base salary. At first glance, the package appears extremely generous, but the union claims that in reality, these payments account for only about 4.4% of the company’s operating profit. Furthermore, the maximum figure includes not only cash bonuses but also one‑time payments, shares, and other forms of compensation.
Now the union is demanding a shift from one‑off bonuses to a transparent system for distributing 15% of operating profit among Micron employees worldwide. Talks on September 18 and 21 failed to resolve the dispute, with further negotiations now expected in October. If those talks fail, a significant portion of the Taiwanese workforce could take strike action. This is already a serious operational risk, as unions represent more than 80% of Micron’s roughly 15,000 employees in Taiwan.
Dissatisfaction is growing amid a sharp improvement in financial results. From 2024 to 2025, Micron’s net profit under GAAP increased more than tenfold, from $778 million to $8.54 billion. At the same time, employees point out that after the situation in the memory market deteriorated in 2022, the company announced a 10% reduction in its global workforce and temporarily stopped paying bonuses. Now, with the cycle reversed and profits surging, employees expect a proportional share of the business recovery.
Competitors have become a source of pressure. SK hynix allocates up to 10% of its annual operating profit to employees, compared with about 10.5% at Samsung. Such profit-sharing arrangements have transformed bonus payments from an internal personnel issue at individual companies into a competitive factor for the broader industry.
Moreover, even Micron’s current compensation levels do not eliminate the gap with its competitors. The company reported that the minimum cash compensation for Taiwanese employees for the 2026 fiscal year would be about $53,800 per person. Entry‑level engineers, taking into account various forms of compensation, could receive about $107,000. However, some employees of South Korean memory manufacturers could receive annual bonuses of up to $400,000, which increases the pressure on Micron in the competition for skilled workers.
For shareholders, the situation cuts both ways. On the one hand, an increase in the share of profits distributed to employees directly raises costs and reduces the financial benefit shareholders derive from the current memory boom. The 15 % demand even exceeds the current schemes at Samsung and SK hynix, so its adoption could significantly change the structure of Micron’s compensation.
On the other hand, refusing to compromise could also cost the company dearly and make another appearance among the market’s top stock gainers less likely in the near term. Memory production requires a high level of utilization of expensive facilities, and a strike in Taiwan could disrupt production precisely at a time when demand and prices are being supported by the development of AI infrastructure. In addition, the shortage of skilled engineers means that compensation is becoming a tool for retaining staff, rather than just an additional expense.
It is telling that even SK hynix, which already distributes 10% of its operating profit among employees, has faced new demands. Workers rejected a proposed 6.3% increase in base salary and are dissatisfied with the fact that up to 60% of the bonus may be paid in stock.
Thus, the record‑breaking cycle in the memory market is beginning to change not only the financial performance of manufacturers and their standing on the stock screener but also the way the resulting profits are distributed. For Micron, the issue now lies in finding a balance between the interests of shareholders and employees. The longer the AI boom and the high profitability of the industry persist, the greater the pressure on manufacturers to reconsider how the financial benefits are distributed between shareholders and employees.
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