First Half TAI Announcement, Payment on July 8
DS Division: 0-25% of Base Salary
"Galaxy Effect" Boosts MX Division to 75%
The performance bonus for the Device Solutions (DS) division, which is responsible for semiconductors at Samsung Electronics, has been set at up to 25% of the monthly base salary for the first half of this year. In contrast, the Mobile eXperience (MX) division, which drove first-quarter results with the launch of the Galaxy S25, reportedly received a performance bonus of around 75%.
On July 4, Samsung Electronics announced the Target Achievement Incentive (TAI) payout rates for the first half of this year via its internal network. The payment date is set for July 8.
The TAI is one of Samsung Electronics' performance bonus systems, awarded once each in the first and second halves of the year based on results. The amount varies by business division and department evaluation, up to a maximum of 100% of the monthly base salary.
It is reported that the DS division will receive between 0% and 25% of the base salary. By business unit, the Memory Business Unit is set at 25%, the System LSI Business Unit at 12.5%, and the Semiconductor Research Center at 12.5%. The Foundry Business Unit is set at 0%.
Since 2023, when the semiconductor market downturn continued, the size of performance bonuses in the DS division has been on a declining trend. However, at the beginning of this year, the Memory Business Unit was recognized for a significant improvement in performance compared to the previous year, and the TAI payout rate for the second half of last year was set at 200%, exceeding the standard rate. The Foundry and System LSI business units received 25%.
The sharp drop in performance bonus rates is attributed to a significant decline in operating profit for NAND flash, one of the main memory products, expected in the first and second quarters, as well as continued multi-trillion won deficits in both the Foundry and System LSI business units.
In contrast, SK Hynix, which is projected to record an operating profit in the 9 trillion won range in the second quarter of this year thanks to high-bandwidth memory (HBM), is expected to pay all employees a productivity incentive (PI) of 150% of their base salary for the first half of this year. This is projected to be the maximum payout rate, as was the case in both the first and second halves of 2024.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that executives in the DS division at Samsung Electronics have decided to forgo their TAI as a gesture of commitment to improving management performance.
For other divisions, the MX division is reported to have a payout rate of 75%, the Visual Display (VD) division 37.5%, the Digital Appliances (DA) division 50%, and the Networks division 50%.
The higher TAI payout rates compared to the DS division appear to be influenced by the strong performance of the MX division, led by the launch of the Galaxy S25 in the first quarter. The MX division at Samsung Electronics posted an operating profit of 4.3 trillion won in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of about 22% compared to the first quarter of last year, driven by the Galaxy S25.
In the case of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, the maximum performance bonus is set at 100%. The Component Business Unit, which handles multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), will receive 100% of the base salary, while the Optical Solution Business Unit, which manufactures camera modules, and the Package Solution Business Unit, responsible for flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA), as well as the entire company, are reported to receive 75% of the base salary.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
