Micron Union in Taiwan Announces Thursday Strike After 1,994 Members Back Action
Key Facts
The union representing Micron workers in the Taiwanese city of Taoyuan said it would begin a strike on Thursday, escalating a dispute over bonuses and profit sharing, Reuters reported. The move follows a strike ballot in which 1,994 members backed the action, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. The ballot result was announced in October 2026, before the latest announcement that industrial action would begin. The dispute concerns employee incentive arrangements at the company's operations on the island, an important production hub for memory chips used in artificial intelligence servers. The Taoyuan union did not specify how long its announced solidarity strike would last, according to Reuters.
The union is demanding a permanent mechanism to distribute 15% of Micron's operating profit to employees, according to the Central News Agency's coverage of the dispute. The demand links workers' share to the company's operating profit, with the union calling for the distribution mechanism to remain in place permanently. Its objections include the existing incentive payment programme, which the union says lacks transparency in employee bonus arrangements. The union president said the employer had put forward the bonus package unilaterally, without reaching an agreement with the union. In remarks carried by the agency, the union president described the package as "proposed solely by the employer", as part of his objection to how it was adopted.
Micron had announced a bonus package for workers in Taiwan equivalent to 35 to 68 months of pay for fiscal 2026, according to the Central News Agency. Those figures express the package's equivalent value in months of pay under the bonus arrangements the company announced for its employees on the island. The bonuses are part of a global plan covering more than 60,000 Micron employees, according to the announcement carried by the agency. The company's workforce in Taiwan totals about 15,000 employees, according to Micron's September 2026 statement on the scale of its presence there. The Taoyuan union said the Taoyuan and Taichung unions together represent more than 80% of Micron's employees in Taiwan, Reuters reported.
Micron's operations in Taiwan include production of dynamic random-access memory, according to Reuters' description of the island's role in the company's manufacturing network. It also produces high-bandwidth memory chips there, a key component used in artificial intelligence servers, the agency reported. Micron said its cumulative investment in Taiwan had exceeded 1.6 trillion Taiwan dollars as of September 2026, in a statement on its manufacturing presence on the island. As part of the expansion of its Taiwanese operations, the company announced the completion of its acquisition of Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing's Tongluo site. Micron confirmed in its announcement that the purchase of the site in Taiwan's Miaoli County had been completed and ownership transferred to the company.
The labour dispute follows Micron's announcement that revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 rose to $54.23 billion, according to the company's earnings statement. The company compared that figure with revenue of $41.46 billion in the previous fiscal quarter in its published quarterly results. For the full fiscal 2026 year, Micron's revenue totalled $133.19 billion, compared with $37.38 billion in fiscal 2025, according to the same statement. In stock trading, EL7 data showed Micron closed at $904.9 in the October 19 session, the latest closing price reported. The stock had closed the previous session, on October 16, at $878.84, putting its latest close above the previous session's level.
In negotiations, the Taichung union is still holding talks with Micron over the dispute, Reuters reported, alongside the action announced by the Taoyuan union. The Taichung union represents workers at the company's largest operations in Taiwan and had not held a strike ballot, according to the agency. Micron, for its part, said it would participate in mediation "in good faith", according to remarks carried by the Central News Agency. The Taichung union is scheduled to hold a mediation session with the company on October 22, coinciding with the announced start of the Taoyuan strike on Thursday. The Taichung union will determine its next step after the mediation session, according to the Central News Agency's account of the schedule for negotiations and upcoming union action.