Samsung Elec Union in SKorea Says it Will Strike Indefinitely

Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union gather during a rally as they began a three-day general strike outside of Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)
Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union gather during a rally as they began a three-day general strike outside of Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)
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Samsung Elec Union in SKorea Says it Will Strike Indefinitely

Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union gather during a rally as they began a three-day general strike outside of Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)
Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union gather during a rally as they began a three-day general strike outside of Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)

A workers' union at tech giant Samsung Electronics in South Korea said on Wednesday it would continue to strike indefinitely, stepping up its campaign for better pay and benefits, Reuters reported.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), whose roughly 30,000 members make up almost a quarter of the firm's South Korean workforce, said it has decided to continue striking because management has shown no indication of holding talks after a strike that started on Monday.
"We haven't spoken to management since we started the strike on Monday," said Lee Hyun-kuk, the union's vice president.
The union said it would extend the strike, which was initially planned to last three days through Wednesday. Lee told Reuters that the strike has disrupted production on certain chip lines such as with equipment running more slowly.
Samsung said the strike had caused no disruption during the first three days.
"Samsung Electronics will ensure no disruptions occur in the production lines. The company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the union," the company said in a statement.
The union is becoming more vocal and seeking to be treated as an equal partner, adding to challenges at the world's biggest memory chipmaker which is struggling to navigate competition in chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Lee said about 6,500 workers have been participating in the strike and that the union will encourage more members to join.
Union officials have disputed reports of low participation, telling Reuters that the five-year-old body did not have enough time to educate members about the labor issues. The union held a training session on Tuesday and will conduct another on Wednesday.
Analysts said it would be difficult to verify whether the strike has disrupted production unless the union provides details of wafers and processes.
The union said it has revised demands to include a 3.5% increase in base salary and, instead of an extra day's annual leave, a day off to mark the union's founding. Lee said the management previously offered a 3% rise in base salary but the union wants 3.5% to better reflect inflation.
Samsung's share price was down 0.3% while the benchmark KOSPI index was little changed as at 0423 GMT.



AI Startup Funding More than Doubles in Q2, Crunchbase Data Shows

Nao robots of the Nomadz team, programmed by the ETHZ and Insait Bulgaria, play a game of soccer during the AI for Good Global summit on artificial intelligence, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva, Switzerland, May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Nao robots of the Nomadz team, programmed by the ETHZ and Insait Bulgaria, play a game of soccer during the AI for Good Global summit on artificial intelligence, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva, Switzerland, May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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AI Startup Funding More than Doubles in Q2, Crunchbase Data Shows

Nao robots of the Nomadz team, programmed by the ETHZ and Insait Bulgaria, play a game of soccer during the AI for Good Global summit on artificial intelligence, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva, Switzerland, May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Nao robots of the Nomadz team, programmed by the ETHZ and Insait Bulgaria, play a game of soccer during the AI for Good Global summit on artificial intelligence, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva, Switzerland, May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups surged to $24 billion from April to June, more than doubling from the previous quarter, according to data from Crunchbase, highlighting the growing appetite for the new technology.

Overall startup funding grew 16% sequentially to touch $79 billion in the last quarter, primarily driven by investments in AI, which became the largest sector for the first time, followed by healthcare and biotech, Reuters reported.

The runway success of OpenAI's ChatGPT has unleashed a race to adopt the latest AI technology in areas such as business productivity, healthcare, and manufacturing. Investors and Big Tech firms, however, say that meaningful gains from their massive investments in AI will only materialize over the next few years.

Despite last quarter's uptick, startup funding remains low compared to the levels seen in the past three years.

Global funding declined 5% to $147 billion in the first half of the year and was flat compared to the second half of 2023, according to Crunchbase.

A tight monetary policy in the US has contributed to a slow revival in initial public offerings, hampering what is among the biggest sources of returns for institutional private market investors, who typically invest in startups and sell shares during IPOs.