Key facts
- About a dozen workers at Micron's Taoyuan plant struck for one day in October, Rest of World reported.
- Micron said on October 22 it agreed with the Taichung union on higher salaries and quarterly bonuses.
- Many union members rejected the Taichung deal, which they said was made in secret, Rest of World reported.
- Micron's two Taiwan unions grew from around 440 members to more than 13,000, Rest of World reported.
- Micron's Taiwan workers produce over 60% of the company's DRAM chips, used in AI servers, per Rest of World.
About a dozen workers at a Micron Technology plant in Taoyuan, Taiwan, went on strike for one day in October, the first such action in the island's semiconductor industry, after their union and the chipmaker failed to reach agreement on salaries and bonuses, Rest of World reported. The action was largely symbolic, the outlet said.
Micron, the world's third-biggest memory chipmaker, employs more than 15,000 workers in Taiwan, who produce over 60% of the company's dynamic random access memory chips, used in AI servers, according to Rest of World. The outlet reported that a prolonged strike could disrupt supplies of memory chips.
Micron said on October 22 that it had reached an agreement with the Taichung union for higher salaries and quarterly bonuses, and bigger contributions to the pension accounts of all workers at its Taiwan operations. Many union members rejected the deal, which they said was made in secret, and a majority of Taoyuan union members said they were dissatisfied with its terms, Rest of World reported.
"We do not accept the deal. None of our demands were fulfilled," a Taoyuan union member, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Rest of World. The Taoyuan union, registered as a separate entity with more than 2,300 members, can still go on strike, the outlet reported.
A Micron spokesperson told Rest of World the company respects the workers' "lawful rights and the applicable legal process" and is "committed to constructive engagement with the Taoyuan and Taichung unions to reach a solution that works for all parties."
Membership in Micron's two worker unions has risen from around 440 to more than 13,000 over the past few months, Rest of World reported. Wu Yu-ren, a labor relations professor at National Chung Cheng University, told the outlet that the actions signal a shift as semiconductor workers organize to demand greater transparency and a fairer share of the value they help create.