Samsung would like some of its teams to work 64 hours a week

Samsung Display, the subsidiary that makes the company’s displays, has considered introducing a 64-hour work week for some of its teams, according to a report.

Samsung is facing increasing competition from rivals in its OLED business. To cope, the company plans to implement a 64-hour work week, according to DigiTimes. This initiative aims to extend working hours for departments such as IT, artificial intelligence development and micro-projects.

The tech giant has already submitted a special request to the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor to raise the upper limit to 64 hours per week. Korean labor laws limit working hours to 52 hours per week, or 40 normal hours with a possible 12 hours of overtime.

To stay ahead of its competitors, Samsung Display has also begun moving around 50 internal technicians to its small and medium-sized OLED development department. Samsung Display did not immediately respond to Dexerto’s request for comment.

Korea JoongAng Daily reported on June 8 This year, Samsung has already imposed a 64-hour workweek on its semiconductor and smartphone research and development (R&D) teams. The Korean publication reported that the mandate came as the tech giant went into emergency mode to address weak profits.

Earlier this year, in April, Samsung asked its executives to work six days a week. Korean Economic Daily It was reported that overtime was implemented to “inject a sense of crisis” among workers and improve its bottom line.

Samsung recorded its weakest financial year in more than a decade in 2023, with the the wall street journal Net profit fell 73% in the fourth quarter. The Korean company’s semiconductor business, which accounts for about 80% of Samsung’s profits, posted a loss of nearly 15 trillion Korean won (US$11 billion) last year.