In the south, South Korea labor union leaders at Samsung Electronics (07747) announced that the company and the union failed to reach a salary agreement on Wednesday, resulting in more than fifty thousand employees planning to go on a comprehensive strike, potentially disrupting the production of artificial intelligence and other chips. Union representative Choi Seung-ho stated that the company did not respond to the union's demands for reforming the salary structure, including the cancellation of the current limit of 50% of annual basic salary as a bonus, and changing it to be calculated solely based on operating profits. The union had previously stated that if their demands were not met, employees would go on an 18-day strike starting from May 21st. As of May 13th, Samsung Electronics' market value had once plummeted by 99.07 trillion South Korean won (approximately 66.18 billion US dollars) at one point, but it recovered this market value loss after high-ranking officials in the South Korean government intervened to calm strike concerns. South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol posted on the X platform that the government expressed "deep regret" over both sides' failure to reach an agreement and warned that "under no circumstances should a strike occur." Koo Yun Cheol also stated that considering the current management situation and its impact on the national economy, both labor and management must continue to make efforts and engage in principled negotiations.