Samsung offers the largest-ever incentives to partners

Samsung Electronics will pay a total of 32.3 billion won to the members of its 271 semiconductor partners as production and safety incentives for the first half of this year. This is the largest-ever amount for the first six months of a year since the South Korean electronics giant introduced its partner incentive policy in 2010. It is thought to be Samsung’s determination to achieve joint growth with subcontractors despite the current external challenges, such as export regulations by Japan and trade disputes between the U.S. and China.

With the announcement by Samsung on Thursday, about 19,000 executives and employees of the first- and second-tier high-performing partner companies of the South Korean company, who work all year round at the sites of the Device Solution business unit responsible for its semiconductor business, have received a total of 32.33 billion won as incentives. This figure is 26 percent higher than 25.66 billion won of the last year, which was the largest amount of incentives paid by Samsung for the first half of a year until this year. Those who received incentives include a broad range of employees, including those in charge of production and quality, maintenance and repair of facilities at sites, and cleaning.

“For Samsung to become the No. 1 semiconductor manufacturer, not just those with cutting-edge technological capabilities, but also the dedicated efforts by the employees of our partners behind the scenes are critical,” said a member of the electronics giant. “We expect the incentives will boost the morale of the members of our partners who may go on a summer vacation soon and stimulate South Korea’s domestic economy.”

Samsung Electronics has been expanding its projects to boost the morale of its partners. The accumulated incentives paid by the company from 2010 to the first half of this year amounts to 305.9 billion won. Even its high-performing partners in the second-tier became eligible to the receipt of incentives last year. Samsung is also providing support to nurture talents of its partners by running the Semiconductor Facilities Technology Academy (SfTA).


Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com