SK hynix workers approved a revised 2026 wage and collective bargaining agreement in a union vote, three weeks after the first tentative agreement was rejected by a margin of 25 votes. The deal was reached after raising the cash portion of performance bonuses to 50%.

The revised agreement was approved with 8,731 votes, or 57.08%, in a two-day vote held by SK hynix's Icheon and Cheongju union from Sept. 15, according to results released Sept. 16. Of 16,039 eligible members, 15,297 voted, for a turnout of 95.37%.

The basic payout ratio for the company's profit-sharing (PS) bonus was adjusted to 50% cash and 50% stock. The first agreement called for 40% in cash and 60% in stock. The revised deal also gives employees the option to convert the cash portion into stock in increments of 10 percentage points.

Deferred portions of performance bonuses calculated based on last year's results that had been scheduled for payment next year and the following year will also be paid earlier. Single-parent households were added to the eligibility for additional housing loan support, which previously covered married households. The broader framework of the previous agreement, including a 6.3% wage increase and the deferral of a portion of wages in the event of losses, was maintained.

The first tentative agreement was rejected in an all-employee union vote on Aug. 25, with 7,535 votes, or 50.08%, against and 7,510 votes, or 49.92%, in favor. Labor and management then held about two weeks of additional negotiations and reached the revised agreement on Sept. 9.

SK hynix and the union will hold a signing ceremony for the final agreement before the Chuseok holiday, completing this year's wage and collective bargaining process.

"We thank the labor union and our employees for working with us through this difficult process," SK hynix said. "We will continue to work together as a company and employees to address and overcome the challenges we face."

Japan's Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK) held a completion ceremony on Sept. 15 for its manufacturing facility in the Poseung district of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. About 100 officials attended, including Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone Authority Commissioner Kim Neung-sik, Pyeongtaek Mayor Choi Won-yong, TOK President Noriaki Taneichi and TOK Advanced Materials CEO Kim Ki-tae.

TOK Advanced Materials will invest a total of 101 billion won on a 55,560-square-meter site to establish a high-purity chemical manufacturing facility in the first phase. The company also plans to build photoresist (PR) production capacity in the future. Of the total investment, 70.6 billion won is foreign direct investment. The project will create about 70 new jobs.

TOK Advanced Materials is the Korean subsidiary of TOK. TOK is the market leader in photoresists, supplying products to Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, TSMC and Intel. Photoresist is a key material used to form circuit patterns on silicon wafers during semiconductor patterning.

The project follows a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in April 2023 after the Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone Authority visited TOK's headquarters in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The two sides discussed cooperation aimed at attracting a world-class semiconductor materials production base. The plant was completed three years after the investment was secured.

Gyeonggi Province has what it describes as the world's largest semiconductor cluster, linking semiconductor industry hubs including Pyeongtaek's Poseung and Hyeondeok districts with Yongin, Icheon, Hwaseong and Anseong. The Poseung and Hyeondeok districts are expected to become a hub for advanced materials within the semiconductor belt.

"Semiconductors are a strategic high-tech industry that determines national competitiveness," Kim Neung-sik said. "The completion of TOK's plant will help the region emerge as a hub for key semiconductor materials."