Report: Exynos struggling because of South Korea's 52 hour work week cap mandate
The Chosun Daily reports that Samsung's chip development arm Exynos is facing challenges allegedly because of South Korea's 52-hour workweek cap.
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| Samsung Exynos chip |
Limited overtime hours causing problems for innovation?
Previously, Korean News outlet NewsWay reported that Samsung's 3nm process yields have fallen below expectations with an alleged yield rate of less than 20 percent. This has discouraged Samsung from moving forward with large-scale production of the upcoming Exynos 2500 chip.
South Korea's 52-hour workweek cap is reportedly not helping because it limits the company's ability to meet key deadlines. Samsung pointed out the workweek regulation, which includes a cap of 12 hours of overtime, as a core constraint on its Exynos development team. Samsung engineers are reportedly forced to halt work even during critical development phases which have resulted in unfinished tasks. The Chosun Daily's sources have said that the same cap has led some employees to work unpaid overtime to stay on top of demanding schedules.
GizmoChina points out that similar workweek laws also exist in other technology manufacturing hubs such as in Taiwan. TSMC adheres to a 48-hour workweek limit that can be broken down to 40 regular working hours with an additional 36 hours of overtime monthly.
Critics skeptically note that other South Korean companies such as SK Hynix remain competitive under the same country's restrictions. However, it is worth noting that Samsung's scope extends beyond memory chips to custom semiconductor design and client-specific foundry work.
Companies based in the United States such as Qualcomm and Apple face no legally mandated workweek caps. This may have played a factor in extending working hours when necessary.
GizmoChina says that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite is costing nearly USD 200 which is reportedly higher than Samsung's budget for the upcoming Galaxy S25 and S25+ models. We could see the said phones launch with either the Exynos 2500 or Dimensity 9400 chip when it launches. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra could arrive with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Take this information with a grain of salt until Samsung's official announcement.
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