Samsung reportedly wants some of its teams to work 64 hours a week

Samsung Display, the subsidiary that manufactures the company’s screens, has considered introducing a 64-hour workweek for some of its teams, according to a report.

Samsung is facing increasing competition from rivals in its OLED business. To keep up, the company plans to implement a 64-hour workweek, 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. Korea’s labor laws cap working hours at 52 hours per week — 40 regular hours with 12 hours of possible overtime.

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

Korea’s JoongAng Daily reported on June 8 this year that Samsung has already mandated a 64-hour workweek for its semiconductor research and development (R&D) and smartphone teams. The Korean publication reported that the mandate came as the tech giant entered emergency mode to address its weak earnings.

Earlier this year in April, Samsung told its executives to work a 6-day week. Korea Economic Daily reported that the overtime was implemented to “inject a sense of crisis” among workers and raise its bottom line.

Samsung posted its weakest financial year in over a decade in 2023, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that net profit fell 73% in Q4. The Korean company’s semiconductor business—which accounts for about 80% of Samsung’s earnings—recorded a loss of nearly 15 trillion Korean won ($11 billion USD) last year.