Supply Chain Risks Emerge, Raising Anxiety Among Global Clients [Final Round of Samsung Electronics Labor-Management Talks]

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Samsung Electronics, which is aiming to dominate the High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market, is increasingly facing concerns that a strike by its labor union could instead trigger supply chain risks.
The company has already responded by reducing the amount of new wafers fed into some production lines in preparation for a possible strike. Experts warned that if labor risks at Samsung Electronics drag on amid strong demand for AI semiconductors, future order competition could be disrupted.
According to the industry on the 19th, global memory prices have continued to rise as expanded investment in AI servers coincides with concerns over supply shortages. Samsung Electronics' quarterly report also showed that the average selling price (ASP) of memory in the first quarter of this year rose 146% from the annual average a year earlier.
Samsung Electronics is also expanding research and development (R&D) and capital investment to secure an early lead in the next-generation AI memory market. In the first quarter of this year, R&D spending came to 11.3374 trillion won, while facility investment reached 11.2332 trillion won. Of that, 10.1927 trillion won, or about 90.7%, was concentrated in the Device Solutions Division (DS Division), which handles semiconductors.
However, the industry is concerned that labor risks could lead to supply chain instability at a time when competition in AI memory is intensifying. Samsung Electronics is reportedly cutting the amount of new wafers fed into some semiconductor production lines by about 30% from normal levels.
The industry views this as a "warm-down" measure taken in preparation for a possible strike. It is understood as an effort to move wafers already in process to a stable stage while limiting new input to minimize disruption to the production lines.
The problem is that this issue could affect not only labor relations but also how global clients assess supply chains. Since global Big Tech companies such as NVIDIA regard stable AI semiconductor supply as a key factor, even the prospect of production disruptions could be seen as a supply chain risk. Industry watchers say prolonged labor risks could also hurt supply competitiveness and client trust.
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moving@fnnews.com Lee Dong-hyeok Reporter