Chipmakers rush to raise employee salaries to tackle worker shortage

A researcher observes a semiconductor chip. Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

Major semiconductor firms are raising employee salaries to tackle a shortage of skilled professionals in the high-tech industry, an effort underpinned by the government's policy to nurture young experts to strengthen the country's growth driver, according to industry watchers, Sunday.

The industry-wide move coincides with Korea's key semiconductor manufacturers revising their human resources policies to promote the early education and training of young, high-achieving undergrads to reduce costs needed to train entry-level employees that have little to no experience in and knowledge of chipmaking.

The presidential transition committee said April 13 that the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration will create education and training courses to offset a feared shortage of about 30,000 workers over the next decade.

Samsung Electronics has yet to set this year's salary raise, but is expected to maintain last year's rate of 7.5 percent year on year.

Its major competitor SK hynix's rate was 8 percent last year, and the entry-level salary was raised to 50.4 million won ($40,992). This is higher than the 48 million won offered by Samsung Electronics and DB HiTek, a local foundry firm.

The rush to offer greater monetary incentives is in line with a number of local universities seeking to establish learning courses to let high-achieving undergraduates to be contracted to begin their professional careers at the Samsung and SK affiliates.

Samsung Electronics opened the course in cooperation with Yonsei and Sungkyunkwan universities, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).

SK hynix opened such courses at Korea University, to be followed by Sogang and Hanyang universities this year.

Courses taught at the seven universities will foster experts in the logic chip industry, an area where Korea lags far behind global competitor TSMC of Taiwan. Other programs will train students to help Korea remain as the global top player in the memory chip industry.

Data from the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) showed that Korea suffered a shortage of 1,621 workers in the semiconductor industry in 2020 compared to 1,332 in 2015.

The China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) said in a report last year that the world's second-largest economy will face a shortage of 200,000 workers in the semiconductor industry next year.

Some 3,500 non-U.S. semiconductor experts, it added, will be needed in the U.S., which will see a shortage of 27,000 such workers a decade from now following a rapid expansion in the number of semiconductor manufacturing plants.

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