SK Hynix Employees Express Fatigue Over 1.2 Billion Won Bonus Rumors

SK Hynix employees are expressing burden and fatigue due to unconfirmed rumors of potential bonuses in the 1.2 billion won range, based on optimistic forecasts from securities firms. Separate from the company's situation of achieving record performance driven by its leadership in the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market, the stress caused by groundless bonus rumors is considerable. Employees report feeling frustrated when unconfirmed amounts are publicized, leading to speculation that deviates from reality, even when they are happy about the company's good performance. The situation has reached the point where they are asked questions like, ‘You’re getting 1.2 billion won, aren’t you?’ when visiting their parents’ homes.

They have requested that the spread of unconfirmed speculative rumors be curbed. An engineer identified as Mr. A, a 7-year veteran working at the company’s headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, stated, “I pour my heart and soul into research day and night for the company, but after work, I’m exhausted explaining the bonus situation.” He added, “No matter how much I explain that it’s not true, I feel a sense of deprivation when I receive suspicious glances suggesting I’m hiding something.”

Macquarie Securities forecast SK Hynix’s operating profit for next year at 447 trillion won. SK Hynix, however, utilizes 10% of its operating profit as a fund for Profit Sharing (PS) through labor-management negotiations held in September of last year. Applying Macquarie’s forecast, the PS fund alone would amount to approximately 44.7 trillion won. Dividing this by the total employee count of around 34,500 as of the end of last year results in an average of 1.29 billion won per person. However, within the semiconductor industry, there are concerns that such figures are realistically impossible. Opinions suggest it is risky to predict bonuses based solely on the optimistic projections of a specific securities firm in the semiconductor market, which is highly susceptible to global economic volatility. According to market consensus compiled by financial information provider FnGuide, SK Hynix’s estimated operating profit for this year stands at approximately 194.433 trillion won, showing a significant divergence from Macquarie Securities’ forecast. Consequently, a cautious approach is gaining traction.