[News Today] Production shutdown crisis averted

[LEAD]

Amid the looming Samsung Electronics strike, the court has accepted the company's injunction request. That means even if the union goes ahead with its general strike, the worst-case scenario of having to discard all wafers appears to have been avoided. But that does not mean the economic losses from a strike can be fundamentally prevented.

[REPORT]

It takes four to seven months to turn silicon wafers into semiconductors.

It involves procedures such as drawing circuits on the wafers, trimming and having electricity flow through them.

Thanks to a court decision, a complete halt of this complex production line that includes a thousand subprocesses has been prevented.

The worst scenario of a strike leading to full disposal of products has been avoided.

The company estimates around 7,000 personnel are needed to maintain safety and prevent wafer degradation. The union claims the number is lower.

Still, the union is now restricted to see over 10% of strike participants leave the walkout.

But the strike itself is still possible.

There is speculation that some disposal of wafers will be inevitable if a strike goes on.

This is because quality issues can occur if any part of the process is suspended.

Kim Yang-paeng / Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade

The issue is whether it’s full or partial disposal. Once production line stops, some disposal is inevitable.

Even if operation resumes after the strike, production volume is not expected to recover easily for the time being.

Prof. Song Heon-jae / University of Seoul

Major clients will start to worry about not receiving supply and will turn to more price-competitive Chinese products.

With even the court expressing concern over production setbacks, public opinion regarding the strike is expected to further worsen.

But the union said the strike will proceed as scheduled on Thursday.