Micron Taoyuan workers stage Taiwan's first chip strike

About a dozen Micron Technology workers walked off the job for a single day at the company's Taoyuan plant in October, the first strike in Taiwan's semiconductor industry, Rest of World reported. Micron, the world's third-largest memory chipmaker, employs over 15,000 people in Taiwan who produce more than 60% of its DRAM chips sold into AI servers.

Union membership at Micron's two Taiwan facilities surged from approximately 440 to over 13,000 members in recent months. The ask: a profit-sharing agreement of the kind Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix workers secured in South Korea.

"Making a profit is perfectly fine, but the rank and file should get a share of the profit instead of this unequal distribution between high-level executives and the rank and file," said Jerry Lin, president of Micron's Taoyuan union.

On October 22, Micron reached a deal with the separate Taichung union, which has more than 2,300 members, promising higher salaries, quarterly bonuses, and increased pension contributions. Taoyuan members rejected it, saying it had been negotiated secretly. "We do not accept the deal. None of our demands were fulfilled," one Taoyuan union member said.

Wu Yu-ren, a labor relations professor at National Chung Cheng University, told Rest of World that soaring demand for high-end memory has driven up share prices and corporate profits, pushing workers to question how the upside is split. Pan Shih-wei, a former labor minister and adjunct professor, predicted that discussions about strikes and the distribution of profits will become increasingly common.

Semiconductors are more than one-fifth of Taiwan's GDP, and a prolonged stoppage could disrupt supplies to AI hardware makers like Nvidia. President Lai Ching-te, speaking at the opening of Micron's Taichung plant, urged both sides to settle, saying "corporations and employees should help each other like fish and water." The Ministry of Labor said it would facilitate dialogue between Micron and the Taoyuan union.