Sk Hynix China employees hit hard: bonuses less than 5% of their Korean counterparts

Questioning AI · Why is there such a huge difference in bonuses between Korean and Chinese employees at SK Hynix?

The work uniforms of SK Hynix, known as the “Single’s Battle Robe.” The picture has been AI-enhanced.

Text by Su Yang

Edited by Xu Qingyang

SK Hynix, whose market value continues to hit new highs, adds some drama to the “year-end bonus forecast” amid the booming storage sector.

Recently, reports stated that driven by AI-powered demand for storage, SK Hynix, a core storage supplier from Korea, is expected to reach an operating profit ceiling of 250 trillion won by 2026. Under a 10% dividend rule, the average year-end bonus could potentially exceed 3 million yuan.

SK Hynix performance data

The Chosun Ilbo cited a matchmaking company’s opinion, saying “SK Hynix employees’ matchmaking is now unconditionally rated as A,” and variety shows even jokingly referred to SK Hynix’s vests as “highly valuable.”

Investment bank Macquarie Securities further predicted that SK Hynix’s operating profit in 2027 will reach 447 trillion won. If dividend rules remain unchanged, the per capita bonus in 2027 could be about 1.29 billion won, close to 6.1 million RMB.

Recently, in a response to Yicai, SK Hynix confirmed the authenticity of the 10% operating profit dividend rule and emphasized that since the 2026 and next year’s annual performances are not yet determined, the bonus scale cannot be predicted, politely denying the accuracy of a 6.1 million RMB bonus package.

While the high bonus forecast may not be accurate, there is a clear disparity between bonuses for employees in China and Korea.

“We’ve already canceled the bonus cap, but bonuses here in China aren’t increasing,” said a SK Hynix China employee. “In Korea, bonuses are settled once a year; here in China, it’s twice a year.”

The employee revealed that if they received a 3 million bonus, less than 5% of Chinese employees would get it, which translates to about 150k yuan. “It’s not that everyone gets 150k; bonuses are adjusted based on KPI ratings—higher ratings mean higher bonuses. At the highest, I got a little over 100k yuan.”

This employee has been with SK Hynix for over 10 years and has a technical position background.

In the super cycle of the storage industry, the high bonus expectations have attracted media coverage, claiming that storage has surpassed doctors and lawyers to become the most favored position among Korean mothers-in-law in matchmaking markets.

However, compared to the current hot market, the down cycle in storage is a different scene altogether.

In fiscal year 2023, the global semiconductor industry is in a “winter period,” with SK Hynix’s annual total revenue decreasing by about 27% year-on-year to 32.77 trillion won, and net losses reaching 9.14 trillion won. “The lowest was during 2023 and 2024; no bonuses at all,” the aforementioned SK Hynix China employee revealed.

Regarding the much-discussed “per capita bonuses of over 3 million +, 6 million+,” many industry insiders questioned the figures, emphasizing that per capita is not a reliable reference.

“Per capita might be possible, but it’s definitely not 3 million for everyone. Executives get more, engineers get tens of thousands, and operators around 100k is also fine,” said a semiconductor industry worker. “For example, TSMC engineers can earn around 1 million RMB annually.”

“I just look at my income and compare it with what’s posted online—there’s a huge gap,” the previous SK Hynix China employee explained about the bonus disparity between Korean and Chinese employees. “Korean employees have higher monthly salaries, and bonuses are paid as a 12-month equivalent of their annual salary.”

Currently, SK Hynix has three main factories in mainland China, located in Wuxi, Dalian, and Chongqing. Wuxi mainly handles DRAM, Dalian was established after acquiring Intel’s assets as Solidigm’s NAND factory, and Chongqing is a packaging and testing base. There are also sales offices in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai providing technical support.

According to recruitment information posted on Liepin, the Dalian factory’s engineering positions generally offer monthly salaries between 10,000 and 30k RMB, with a promise of 13-month pay, and senior engineer roles can reach up to 35k RMB per month.

Beyond salaries, SK Hynix also provides routine benefits such as annual leave for Chinese employees. For example, sales and support roles do not require overtime, but there are no stock-based incentives or related rewards.

“The management team is there, but they are all Koreans. Chinese cannot be in management,” the aforementioned SK Hynix China employee emphasized.

Several former employees of Korean companies stated that the company generally does not offer stock incentives to Chinese employees. One former Samsung employee viewed Chinese companies more as sales entities or national-level agencies.

“Now some mainland Chinese have entered middle management, TSMC is the same,” said Wu Zihao, a former TSMC factory construction expert and CEO of Ronghe Semiconductor Consulting. “Korean factories have more Koreans, which is normal for priority hiring. As they operate longer in China, local managers will also rise—nothing is absolute.”

From industry and corporate forecasts, in the next 2-3 years, storage will remain a hot topic. “Marriage and dating jokes” and “work uniform jokes” will keep appearing.

At the first-quarter earnings conference, SK Hynix’s CFO stated that demand represented by HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is likely to continue exceeding supply over the next three years, and related growth will continue to revolve around B2B demand, a signal also reflected in SK Hynix’s official press releases.

SK Hynix said: “Although the first quarter is usually a seasonal lull, the market demand remains strong driven by expanding AI infrastructure investments. The company has continued its growth trend by expanding sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), large-capacity server DRAM modules, and enterprise SSDs (eSSD).”

In summary, these are typical B2B customer demands.

This also means that if SK Hynix, as a storage manufacturer, does not increase capacity support for consumer-grade products, the earlier discussed memory price hikes will continue to impact consumer products and drive a price increase trend. The “electronic gold” will keep troubling cyber players.