According to reports, South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics Co. will cut bonuses for employees in its chip production equipment solutions business (DS) due to poor performance due to the deterioration of the semiconductor industry this year.

According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics announced the expected excess profit performance incentive (OPI) payment rate for each business unit within the company. The exact amount of OPI payments is currently being calculated and will be finalized when payments are made in January 2024.

It is reported that OPI is one of the main performance bonus systems of Samsung Electronics. When the performance of the business department exceeds the target set at the beginning of the year, it can reach up to 50% of the individual's annual salary, with an upper limit of 20% of excess profits. Together with the Target Achievement Bonus (TAI), it constitutes Samsung Electronics' performance bonus system.

Samsung Electronics’ DS division informed employees through an internal announcement on December 27 that the payment ratio of the Target Achievement Incentive Plan (TAI) will be halved to 12.5%. TAI is a combination of evaluations based on performance of affiliated business units and divisions in the first half and second half of each year, and implements a differential payment system with a maximum monthly basic salary of 100%.

However, within the DS department, different business units face very different situations. The DS division's TAI payout rate is 12.5%, the performance bonus rate for Samsung Electronics' foundry business unit and large-scale integrated circuit system (LSI) business is 0%, while the Semiconductor Research Institute and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) receive 25% performance bonus rate.

The DS sector achieved a maximum of 100% in the first half of 2022, but due to the semiconductor recession, it dropped to 50% in the second half of 2022, to 25% in the first half of 2023, and was halved again this time.

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