Samsung Electronics’ labour union said on Wednesday it would suspend plans for a strike that had threatened significant disruption to the world’s memory chip supplies, after reaching a last-minute deal with the company over wages and bonuses.

The union said it would suspend strike plans while it puts the tentative deal to a vote from 22 to 27 May.

The two parties reached the potential agreement after the South Korean government stepped in to conduct mediation over issues such as bonus caps, amid soaring profits at the company’s memory division fuelled by memory shortages due to the worldwide rush to construct AI data centres.

The union had planned to begin an 18-day strike on Thursday.

“We would like to express our apologies to the people for causing concerns due to our internal conflicts,” said union leader Choi Seung-ho in a televised briefing.

He said the deal was the result of an “all-out struggle” over the course of about six months.

Samsung official Yeo Myounggoo said the company would “faithfully implement” the agreement and hoped it would lead to more stable relations with labour going forward.

The government had earlier considered using emergency mediation powers that would have suspended the strike for 30 days, amid concerns that the action involving nearly 48,000 union members could damage South Korea’s economy to the tune of 100 trillion won (£49.7bn).

Employees are angry about a pay gap with competitor SK Hynix and the proposed distribution of bonuses among the lucrative memory business and the loss-making logic chip unit.

Samsung agreed to abolish a cap on bonuses of 50 percent of annual salary, to link bonuses to operating profits, and to formalise changes in contracts, an unnamed union negotiator told Reuters.