Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it plans to give its chipmaking subcontractors a bonanza during the Lunar New Year holidays -- the biggest bonus since 2010 -- for their performance last year.

The South Korean tech giant’s semiconductor division pays a total of 41.74 billion won ($35.8 million) to around 20,000 employees of primary and secondary contractors, marking the greatest sum in incentives for the second-half period since 2010. 

For the first half of last year, Samsung provided 32.33 billion won in incentives, totaling 74 billion won. The aggregate incentives were less than 82 billion won in 2018 when Samsung enjoyed an unprecedented chip boom.

“Despite the difficult market conditions last year, the company is sharing its achievement with the purposes of encouraging the suppliers’ employees and contributing to boosting the economy,” a company official said.

The company has been offering its suppliers incentives twice a year. It also has been providing educational support for firms by running its Semiconductor-facilities Technology Academy since 2018.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)