The big picture: The profits of DRAM and NAND manufacturers have skyrocketed since the AI boom drove up demand for memory. After SK Hynix and Samsung awarded their employees generous bonuses from the windfall, union members at Micron are now wondering when they will receive their share.
Taiwan-based media recently reported that Micron's two primary unions are dissatisfied with worker compensation amid the company's ballooning profits. The unions could threaten to strike, potentially disrupting an already strained global memory supply and worsening technology-related price increases.
Union chairman Lin Zherui highlighted Micron's record-high profits stemming from the AI boom. Because data centers and other hardware powering large language models require large amounts of memory, data center operators and tech giants pursuing generative AI have reserved much of the DRAM and NAND production capacity from manufacturers such as Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung.
In response, the Big Three have hiked prices, passing higher costs on to consumers while boosting their profits to unprecedented levels. The boom has pushed Micron's and SK Hynix's market valuations above $1 trillion.
– Jukan (@jukan05) August 1, 2026
However, bonuses for Micron employees have not increased to match the windfall. According to an alleged union pamphlet circulating on a Taiwanese forum, bonuses remain capped at 200% of salary over a five-month period. The poster who shared the pamphlet claimed that Micron union membership has increased nearly tenfold this year as a result.
Micron employees likely view their counterparts at SK Hynix and Samsung with envy after the two South Korean giants awarded their employees hundreds of thousands of dollars earlier this year. SK Hynix paid out around $477,000 per employee, a figure that could increase to $900,000 next year, while Samsung narrowly avoided a strike by paying out around $340,000.
Even brief work stoppages at Micron's plants could significantly hurt the company's profits and create ripple effects across the supply chain, pushing consumer prices even higher. If the company's unions threaten to strike, their demands could include increasing or removing bonus caps and overhauling retirement packages. Initial talks are expected to begin in mid-September.
Although uncertainty surrounds the sustainability of the AI boom, Nvidia's surging profits have delayed fears of a bubble for now. Amid public pushback against data centers, construction delays, and concerns that AI giants are hiding massive amounts of debt, experts still estimate that memory price hikes will continue beyond 2027, with prices potentially remaining elevated past 2030.