Micron rewards engineers in Taiwan with $40,000 cash bonus

Micron Technology has announced it will be rewarding its engineers in Taiwan with a cash bonus of NT$1 million (S$40,000) and equity rewards. The company's local unions had been pushing for additional payout to recognize their contribution to the chipmaker's record profits. As a result, Micron's entry-level engineers in Taiwan will see their average compensation rise to NT$3.4 million for the past fiscal year, following the cash and equity awards.

All Taiwanese employees will also receive equity as part of annual merit grants. While unions had initially demanded one-time cash payouts equivalent to about seven years of an employee's base salary (roughly US$170,000 per worker), the company aims to set aside a portion of its profits for future global employee bonuses. This move comes amid a global debate on how to distribute the wealth generated by AI-related investments in data centers and other infrastructure.

Micron's rivals, Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix, have also committed to sharing profits with their employees, while TSMC plans to allocate 30% more in profit-sharing payouts. However, the substantial size of these bonuses has sparked conflicts within companies and communities, with calls for data providers of AI systems to also receive a share of the profits.

Micron's success in AI can be attributed to its high-bandwidth memory, crucial for AI accelerators from companies like Nvidia. The US chipmaker reported a 15-fold increase in net income in the third quarter, and its share price has surged more than 500% over the past year. Now employing around 15,000 people in Taiwan, Micron relies on the US for research and development and some production, alongside facilities in Japan and Singapore.