Boosted by the semiconductor supercycle (boom period), Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which are posting record earnings, will launch semiconductor talent hiring this month.
According to the industry on the 2nd, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI and other affiliates will begin open recruitment for new employees for the first half of the year this month. In this hiring round, the recruitment scale of the Device Solutions (DS) institutional sector, which oversees Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business, is expected to expand.
Analysts say Samsung Electronics is likely to move aggressively to secure talent as it expands capacity and builds semiconductor fabrication plants in the Pyeongtaek and Yongin clusters in Korea, and seeks to regain competitiveness by pushing 6th-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4). With the recent spread of artificial intelligence (AI) driving demand for commodity DRAM and HBM and aligning with rising semiconductor prices, Samsung Electronics' performance has improved significantly, and that trend is expected to continue for the time being.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong said at the "Corporate meeting to expand youth jobs and regional investment" held at the Blue House on the 4th of last month that "Samsung Electronics' operating performance is rising a lot, so we have a bit more room to hire this year."
This year, the top 10 corporations plan to hire 51,600 new employees, up 2,500 from last year. Among them, Samsung's tentative hiring plan is estimated at 12,000. Since 1957, Samsung has operated an open recruitment system, the first among domestic corporations, for more than 70 years, and is the only major conglomerate in Korea that still maintains open recruitment.
SK hynix is also set to begin recruiting new employees (technical and administrative positions) soon. Hiring fields include HBM, DRAM and NAND research and development, and PKG (packaging) development, with the scale estimated in the triple digits.
SK hynix has been steadily hiring new and experienced employees recently, accelerating its efforts to secure talent. Last month, it unveiled a new hiring strategy linking global, regional and artificial intelligence (AI), "Talent hy-way," and said it would pursue a talent acquisition framework to strengthen future competitiveness. The core is to expand the existing career-focused hiring structure into a rolling hiring system that encompasses new hires and full-time production workers. The company revamped its operations so that qualified candidates can apply without restrictions on timing or pathway.
The industry expects that SK hynix's demand for semiconductor professionals will continue to grow in step with the expansion of new production bases, including the Cheongju P&T7 and the Yongin semiconductor cluster.