South Korea chip bonuses flagged as inflation risk

Samsung and SK hynix bonuses for chip workers flagged as a national inflation risk — Bank of Korea projects…

Samsung and SK hynix award $410k–$900k annual bonuses to memory workers (10–10.5% of chip profits), driven by AI memory supercycle sending DRAM, NAND, and HBM prices to record highs. Bank of Korea flagged these concentrated payouts as inflation risk (0.05pp consumer price increase ~5 months later), signaling AI infrastructure margins concentrate at few chipmakers globally.