By Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang
TAICHUNG, Taiwan Oct 15 (Reuters) – Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on Thursday for US memory chipmaker Micron Technology and its workers to negotiate “sincerely” ahead of a possible strike by the company’s union in Taiwan.
Last week, a Taiwanese union representing workers at Micron said it had secured authorisation from its members to strike over a dispute concerning the company’s bonus scheme, escalating a labour conflict at the chipmaker’s largest manufacturing hub.
Micron employs about 15,000 people in Taiwan, one of its most important manufacturing hubs, and has said it invested more than T$1.6 trillion ($49.4 billion) on the island.
Speaking in Taichung at the opening of a new Micron advanced assembly and testing facility, Lai said he hoped the government and private sector could work together to promote stronger communication between labour and management.
“We also hope both labour and management will uphold the spirit that fish need water and water needs fish, continuing to negotiate sincerely and in good faith to build the broadest possible consensus,” he added.
“Only by creating harmonious labour relations can both sides win, allowing employees to work with peace of mind and businesses to move steadily and go further.”
Lai said he appreciated Micron’s commitment to Taiwan and hoped it would continue expanding investment on the island, adding that Micron had secured government support for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) research and development.
Taiwan is a crucial production hub for Micron’s DRAM and HBM chips, which are used in AI servers.
MICRON SEES STRONG DEMAND
Manish Bhatia, Micron’s president and chief operating officer, made no mention of a possible strike action in his comments delivered shortly before Lai’s.
“We have already sold out all the capacity for 2027 that this factory will build and we expect high-bandwidth memory to grow faster than the rest of the DRAM industry all the way through 2028,” he said.
Micron’s Taichung union told Reuters that it looked forward to the company engaging in “more substantive dialogue and negotiations” with them.
Neither Micron nor its other union, in Taoyuan, immediately responded to requests for comment on Lai’s remarks.
Last week, the two unions representing workers at Micron’s Taoyuan and Taichung operations said they hoped the company would put forward a concrete profit-sharing proposal for employees.
Mediation with the Taoyuan union ended without agreement in September, while the Taichung union remains in negotiations.
The unions are encouraging members to take a day off on October 19 to join a rally in Taipei, which they said would not be a strike.
($1 = 32.3730 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang; Writing and additional reporting by Wen-Yee Lee and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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