As Samsung Electronics and SK hynix move to hire at scale amid a super-boom in memory, Taiwan's TSMC and big tech companies in Silicon Valley are also seeking semiconductor specialists. TSMC plans to hire about 8,000 new employees this year, and U.S. companies including Microsoft (MS), Google and Tesla are competing to secure diverse talent to strengthen their in-house chip design capabilities. With the semiconductor front expanding to artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation memory, advanced packaging and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), analysts say the importance of human resources is being underscored.
According to industry sources on the 11th, Samsung Electronics is expected to expand hiring this year in its open recruitment of new employees, focusing on the Device Solutions (DS) institutional sector that handles the semiconductor business. Samsung Electronics has recently been strengthening its competitiveness in next-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM) while expanding production by building the Pyeongtaek Plant 5 (P5). As the foundry business, which had been suffering losses, is pushing organizational improvements for a rebound, there is speculation the DS institutional sector will actively work to secure related talent. Aggressive overseas scouting is also underway for experienced hires in advanced packaging technology and design.
SK hynix is also expected to make an unusual move by hiring at least 1,000 new employees this year. On the 10th, SK hynix said it opened a new hiring page and will recruit entry-level technical and office staff through the 23rd. Last month, SK hynix unveiled a new hiring strategy called "Talent hy-way" and said it would move to secure talent by expanding rolling recruitment, including for new hires and production workers.
In particular, SK hynix plans to move away from a career-focused hiring structure and expand a rolling recruitment system that covers new hires and full-time production workers. To attract top talent, it is also conducting campus recruiting at 11 universities in Korea. SK Group eliminated group-level open recruitment in 2022 and shifted to rolling recruitment by affiliate. Against this backdrop, SK hynix's push to hire new employees is seen as a move to secure talent following the recovery in the memory semiconductor market.
TSMC will also make an unusual push for large-scale hiring this year. According to Taiwan's CNA, TSMC plans to hire about 8,000 new employees this year. Among them, entry-level engineers with a master's degree will earn an average annual salary of about 2.2 million Taiwan dollars (about 102.96 million won). The company is recruiting talent not only in engineering fields such as electrical and electronic engineering, optoelectronics, physics, materials engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental engineering and industrial engineering, but also in a variety of roles including business management, human resources and accounting. In line with digital transformation and the expansion of AI and big data utilization, it also plans to actively secure talent in related emerging technologies.
Moves by U.S. big tech companies to attract Korea's semiconductor specialists—who are gaining prominence as the hub of AI memory—are also picking up speed. Earlier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a job listing on his social media (SNS) account to recruit Korean semiconductor talent. He shared Tesla Korea's job posting for AI chip design engineers, added 16 Taegeukgi emojis and signaled a welcome to Korean engineers.
Recently, companies such as MS and Google, which are focusing on developing in-house AI chips, are said to prefer Korean engineers more than ever. A semiconductor industry official said, "As Korea raises its profile in the global AI supply chain, led by HBM, big techs' love calls to Korean engineers are continuing," adding, "To retain specialists from big techs, domestic corporations need strategic talent management plans."