[Edaily SOYEON KIM Reporters Kim Ah-reum and Kim Eung-tae] With the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) era, the value of semiconductor engineers is skyrocketing. There has been an increase in cases of top-tier Korean memory engineers moving to major U.S. tech companies, and the competition between SamsungElectronics and SK hynix to secure talent is becoming even more intense. With SamsungElectronics and SK hynix planning to invest in a massive Honam cluster, the global war for talent is expected to intensify further.

According to industry sources on the 30th, SK hynix is currently recruiting for a total of 54 experienced positions, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) circuit design, HBM digital design, front-end and back-end design, System-on-Chip (SoC) design and verification, and HBM foundry process integration (PI). Following its recent recruitment of new graduates, the company has set out to secure top talent to research next-generation memory technologies and architectures, such as custom HBM.

The competition to secure memory talent is becoming increasingly fierce. As the profitability of the AI memory market rises, the importance of logic dies in HBM has grown, and the demand for personnel with chip design capabilities is rapidly increasing. Industry analysts suggest that SK hynix’s latest recruitment drive is effectively aimed at poaching mid-career and experienced employees from SamsungElectronics. The HBM and AI era is reshaping the landscape of semiconductor talent.

As the standing of “K-Memory” rises, SamsungElectronics and SK hynix find themselves in a situation where they must retain key talent while actively recruiting top-tier professionals. Whereas competitiveness in the past hinged on how fine a process node could be achieved, the core competitive edge now lies in how chips and memory are designed, configured, and packaged—a shift that has significantly increased the value of professionals in system architecture and advanced packaging.

The talent war is now spreading to the global stage. As SamsungElectronics and SK hynix have grown into world-class companies, they can no longer avoid competing for talent with global firms. Key players in the global semiconductor value chain—including TSMC, the world’s largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer), as well as NVIDIA and ASML—have expanded their hiring over the past two years. This has led to increased headhunting activity, particularly by foreign companies, and a growing exodus of high-level domestic semiconductor talent.

Shin Hyun-cheol, a professor in the Department of Semiconductor Systems Engineering at Kwangwoon University, said, “Experience working on HBM-related projects at SamsungElectronics or SK hynix is a significant competitive advantage in the job market,” adding, “Overseas companies will also highly value practical experience with HBM.”

In fact, an analysis of keywords in job posting titles commissioned by Edaily from Worksphere—the operator of the HR tech platform JobKorea—revealed that domestic hiring by global semiconductor companies has increased significantly over the past two years. TSMC, which had conducted sporadic hiring at a rate of 0 to 4 postings per year until 2023, expanded its job postings to 10 to 20 per month starting in April 2024. NVIDIA also saw its number of job postings rise from 23 in 2023, to 34 in 2024, and 30 in 2025, reaching an all-time high of 48 in the first half of this year alone.

U.S. memory company Micron is touring Korean universities to secure top-tier new graduates through immediate hiring and continues to recruit experienced professionals through ongoing recruitment drives. Tesla is also making a concerted effort to secure domestic semiconductor talent as it pushes forward with the construction of its own semiconductor production facility, “Terafab.” The industry reports that the number of professionals leaving for Chinese companies continues to rise.

According to the headhunting group (Briscan English Associates and Everbrain Search) of the career platform Remember & Company, the number of headhunting requests from foreign companies in the first half of this year increased by 85.3% compared to the same period last year.

The demand among Korean memory engineers for employment and immigration to the U.S. is also aligned with this trend. This is because moving to global companies overseas often leads to improvements not only in annual salary but also in working conditions, and offers advantages in terms of housing and children’s education. Yoo Hoe-jun, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KAIST, said, “I am aware of cases where engineers who worked for several years in SamsungElectronics’ DRAM division have moved to Micron for higher salaries,” adding, “Domestic companies also need to establish HR and evaluation systems that meet global standards.”

SamsungElectronics and SK hynix, too, now need to respond to the global talent war. This means they must establish a structure that properly evaluates and compensates engineers. Professor Shin Hyun-cheol remarked, “We are now in a situation where global competition for talent is unavoidable,” adding, “This must be supported by appropriate compensation and a corporate culture that matches these standards.”

The talent war is expected to intensify in the future. This is because, alongside the semiconductor supercycle, domestic companies are planning large-scale fab investments in the Honam region. Professor Yoo Hoi-jun said, “Once the Honam semiconductor cluster is fully established, the demand for talent will continue to grow.”