Many MindedMicron workers in Taiwan walk out, asking for a share of AI profits
About 12 workers at Micron Technology's Taoyuan plant in Taiwan held a one-day strike in October 2026. It was the first strike in Taiwan's semiconductor industry. It came after the union and the company failed to agree on salaries and bonuses. Micron is Idaho-based and the world's third-largest memory chipmaker, and it has posted record profits this year on demand for AI chips.
The stakes go beyond the headcount. Micron employs over 15,000 people in Taiwan, who make more than 60% of its DRAM chips used in AI servers. Unions at Taoyuan and Taichung have sought profit-sharing like the deals won by workers at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in South Korea. On October 22 Micron announced a deal with the Taichung union: higher salaries, quarterly bonuses and larger pension contributions for all Taiwan workers. Many members rejected it, saying it was made in secret. Most Taoyuan members said they were dissatisfied. That union is separate, has over 2,300 members and can still strike. Membership across the two unions rose from about 440 to over 13,000 in recent months.
This matters for abundance because AI's gains are landing unevenly. The source sets the strike against 19 new U.S. startup billionaires worth a combined $59 billion and an Anthropic IPO that could value it at nearly $2 trillion. People who build the physical chips are asking why they sit outside that. If the boom's rewards stay narrow, the labor supply behind compute, and the goodwill it depends on, gets less stable.
Watch the continuing Taoyuan negotiations. The strike was described as largely symbolic. TrendForce analyst Ellie Wang said a brief stoppage would have limited impact if backup staff are available, but wider or prolonged action could disrupt supply to Nvidia and others and raise prices. TSMC staff also discussed unionizing earlier this year. The source text was cut off, so some detail is missing.
Source: Rest of World