u/callsonreddit

Note:

• 50k workers is 40% of Samsung's South Korean workforce
• $DRAM holdings = 20% Samsung, 27% SK Hynix
• Few days later, Samsung was granted court injunction against imminent strike action

Discuss:

• Bullish or bearish for MU, SNDK, WDC, STX?
• Supply squeeze or demand slowdown for memory prices?
• Short-term shock or longer-term pricing catalyst?

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Source 1: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/samsung-strike-looms-why-analysts-say-to-watch-mu-as-memory-fabs-warm-down-4692589

Samsung Electronics has entered emergency management mode as up to 50,000 employees prepare to strike for 18 days starting May 21, according to Mizuho TMT Sector Specialist Jordan Klein. The company has begun a "warm down" of its memory fabs at the Pyeongtaek facility to prevent equipment damage during a potential stoppage.

Samsung management and its union remain far apart on negotiations, with the union demanding a 15% share of operating profits and removal of bonus caps. The company’s stock dropped 8.6% on Friday.

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Source 2: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/samsung-starts-winding-down-chip-producton-six-days-before-planned-18-day-strike

According to the Seoul Economic Daily, daily losses could approach 3 trillion won ($2 billion) if fabrication lines are paused entirely. Professor Kwon Seok-joon at Sungkyunkwan University previously estimated that the 18-day walkout alone would cause 10 trillion to 17 trillion won ($17 billion) in direct losses, while JPMorgan has projected total losses of up to 43 trillion won ($28 billion) when factoring in labor costs and extended production disruption.

https://preview.redd.it/0v7difz13p1h1.png?width=1594&format=png&auto=webp&s=2381d62cc48e775706cf6c61547c424944885a6a

https://preview.redd.it/os7g9o043p1h1.png?width=1583&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f7583831bb7eb16dbcec10e6392f8b2a588eaed

Source: https://www.poet-technologies.com/news/poet-technologies-and-lumilens-advance-wafer-level-photonic-integration-for-next-generation-ai-optical-networks

POET Technologies Inc. ("POET" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: POET), a leader in highly integrated optical engines and light sources for AI networks, and Lumilens Inc. ("Lumilens"), an emerging leader in high-performance scale-up and scale-out optical interconnects for AI workloads, today announced they have entered into a supply agreement that establishes a strategic joint development and commercial technology partnership to advance a new class of wafer-level photonic integration for frontier AI infrastructure.

Modern AI computing was made possible by successive leaps in wafer-level integration: first 2.5D electrical interposers that brought GPUs and HBM into a single package, then hybrid bonding that enabled today's HBM stacks and 3D logic. The optical layer, now the defining bottleneck for scaling AI, has not made that leap. At the center of the POET/Lumilens joint development program is a new paradigm for integration and module fabrication – the Electrical-Optical Interposer (EOI) – combining alignment-free wafer-level optical engine production with next-generation optical chipsets and advanced manufacturing capabilities, all to meet the ever-growing demands for scale and performance in AI infrastructure.

The supply agreement between Lumilens and POET establishes a commercial framework to support the joint development program, and, as part of that framework, Lumilens has placed an initial purchase order with POET for the manufacturing of EOI-based engines valued at $50 million. This purchase order represents the first phase of a broader supplier relationship that could scale to $500+ million in cumulative purchases from POET over five years.

In connection with the supply agreement, and to align both companies to the long-term value created through the partnership, POET has granted Lumilens a warrant to purchase up to 22,921,408 common shares. The warrant is immediately exercisable for 2,292,140 shares, with the remaining shares vesting and becoming exercisable in tranches based on cumulative payments by Lumilens toward future purchase orders totaling up to $500 million. The warrant is exercisable over nine years at an exercise price of $8.25 per share.

+11% after-hours because of earnings