Micron's Taoyuan union wins strike authorization as Taiwan bonus fight escalates

Workers at Micron Technology's chip operations in Taoyuan, Taiwan, have voted to authorize a strike, escalating a pay dispute at the memory maker's largest manufacturing hub just as demand for artificial-intelligence hardware has pushed its profits to records.

The Taoyuan union said Wednesday that 1,994 members backed strike action in a six-day ballot, with 14 opposed and four ballots invalid. That is 99% of the 2,012 members who voted and 88.3% of the 2,258 who were eligible, giving the union the legal right to strike. No walkout has started, and no date has been set.

Union chairman Jerry Lin told reporters in Taipei that members would be told by text message when a strike is called, and that a "surprise strike" announced at short notice was among the options, "to prevent the company from making preparations in advance." Before acting, the union wants Micron's board, which meets on Oct. 8 and 9 U.S. time, to offer a concrete proposal. It has also asked members to take leave on Monday, Oct. 19, for a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei, which it said would not count as a strike.

A permanent share of profit, not a one-time check

The union wants a standing system that would set aside 15% of operating profit for employee bonuses, paid quarterly rather than once a year. It says the company's current Incentive Pay Plan is opaque, rewards senior executives disproportionately and lags the pay practices of South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Micron's answer so far has been a record one-time payout. In September it said Taiwan employees on the payroll since Aug. 29, 2025, would receive a NT$1 million (about $31,400) cash bonus for fiscal 2026, part of a package it valued at the equivalent of 35 to 68 months' pay. The union rejected it as a one-off that leaves employees "at the mercy of management" and objected that it was announced while mediation was still under way. That mediation ended in September without a deal.

Micron's latest results help explain the timing. It reported revenue of $133.19 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 3, up from $37.38 billion a year earlier, and operating income of $99.34 billion. Workers elsewhere in the memory industry have won bigger shares, too: in May, Samsung Electronics averted a planned strike in South Korea with a deal that funds a special bonus pool for its chip division with 10.5% of that division's operating profit, The Korea Herald reported.

How much production is at stake

Micron has about 3,000 employees in Taoyuan, roughly 2,400 of them union members, and about 12,300 in Taichung, where a separate union has around 11,000 members. The Taoyuan site mainly makes DRAM, and Taiwan is a crucial production base for Micron's DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, the chips paired with AI processors in data-center servers. An analyst at market researcher TrendForce told Taiwan's Central News Agency that a strike disrupting engineers' equipment maintenance and process monitoring could lower yields and production stability, with the effect on supply growing the longer a stoppage lasted. Memory-module makers Apacer and Transcend, which buy little of their DRAM from Micron, said its deliveries were normal and that a strike should have a limited effect on their operations.

The Taichung union is still in talks. It is due to hold another mediation session with Micron on Oct. 22 before deciding its next step, and said those talks would continue as scheduled.

Micron and the labor ministry respond

Micron said it respected employees' legal rights and would take their concerns seriously. "We remain committed to listening to our team members and engaging with our unions in good faith," the company said, adding that it would keep using the existing dialogue and mediation channels.

Taiwan's Ministry of Labor said it respected the vote, describing it as a reflection of employees' hopes for "a reasonable profit-sharing system," and urged Micron to put forward "concrete, feasible proposals." It said it would work with the Taoyuan city government and the agency that oversees the science park housing Micron's Taichung plant to help the two sides negotiate.

Shares fall with the chip sector

Micron shares fell 2.6% to $1,018.87 at 9:37 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, according to cnbc.com, on course for a fourth straight decline. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was down 1.9%, so the vote landed on top of a broader drop in chip stocks. Micron had closed at $1,097.39 on Oct. 1, the day after its results, and at $1,045.56 on Tuesday, Yahoo Finance data show.