https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...ip-giants-give-out-1-million-bonuses-to-staff
SEOUL - In South Korea’s booming chip sector, bonuses that bullish forecasts suggest could soon approach US$900,000 (S$1.15 million) are deepening concerns over widening inequality.
At SK Hynix, one-off payouts tied to the artificial intelligence boom are forecast to swell to multiples of earnings in traditionally high-income professions. The windfall illustrates the Bank of Korea’s concern that the tech bonanza will skew the economy “K-shaped” – where a few workers vault ahead while the rest languish on a downward slope.
It’s a phenomenon that was on display on April 23 in Seoul, when SK Hynix reported a fivefold jump in quarterly operating profit to a record 37.61 trillion won (S$32.4 billion). Less than half an hour later, the BOK said gross domestic product surged 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, led by tech exports, topping even the most bullish economist forecasts.
SEOUL - In South Korea’s booming chip sector, bonuses that bullish forecasts suggest could soon approach US$900,000 (S$1.15 million) are deepening concerns over widening inequality.
At SK Hynix, one-off payouts tied to the artificial intelligence boom are forecast to swell to multiples of earnings in traditionally high-income professions. The windfall illustrates the Bank of Korea’s concern that the tech bonanza will skew the economy “K-shaped” – where a few workers vault ahead while the rest languish on a downward slope.
It’s a phenomenon that was on display on April 23 in Seoul, when SK Hynix reported a fivefold jump in quarterly operating profit to a record 37.61 trillion won (S$32.4 billion). Less than half an hour later, the BOK said gross domestic product surged 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, led by tech exports, topping even the most bullish economist forecasts.
