By Adam Clark

Micron Technology stock and Sandisk were gaining early Wednesday. Labor unrest at Samsung Electronics could intensify the memory-chip supply crunch.

Micron shares were up 6.2% in premarket trading, and Sandisk stock was rising 5.2%.

Talks between Samsung and its labor union to avert a walkout collapsed on Wednesday. Samsung said it would continue efforts to prevent a strike. Union leaders are seeking to remove legal obstacles to the walkout.

Samsung's workers are demanding that the company allocate 15% of its operating profit for bonuses and are threatening a general walkout from May 21 to June 7. A walkout could hit about 3% of global memory-chip production, according to Jefferies estimates.

Memory-chip supplies are already undergoing a historic squeeze. Any hit to Samsung's output would increase demand for Micron's hardware, which is already surging because of the wave of investment in artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Samsung's challenges could also be a boon for Sandisk, which competes with Samsung in NAND flash memory chips.

South Korea's SK Hynix, which also competes with Samsung in memory chips, rose 7.7% in local trading.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com

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May 13, 2026 06:55 ET (10:55 GMT)

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