Samsung starts winding down chip production six days before planned 18-day strike — company enters 'emergency management mode,' daily losses could hit $2 billion

Samsung is reportedly slowing chip production ahead of an 18-day union strike, reducing wafer input and idling some equipment.

Analysts warn the stoppage and restart could disrupt output for weeks and potentially cost billions per day.

The move may tighten global memory-chip supply and delay recovery at Samsung’s highly automated fabs.

It could also raise concerns among customers in Samsung’s AI-focused HBM and server DRAM business.