AI·Semiconductor Boom Opens Korean Tech Industry Employment Market Wide...Youth Jobs Surge

Korea's tech industry employment market is opening wide due to explosive growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industries. Youth jobs are surging through Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's large-scale recruitment, Hyundai Motor Group's semiconductor personnel acquisition, and Naver and Kakao's AI talent recruitment. Demand for specialized personnel in AI, semiconductors, and software is explosively increasing.

Samsung·SK Hynix: Large-Scale Semiconductor Personnel Recruitment

Samsung Electronics plans to recruit over 5,000 new personnel in the semiconductor sector alone in 2025. Responding to the AI semiconductor supercycle, the company is massively acquiring specialized personnel in core areas including HBM (high bandwidth memory) design, foundry process development, and AI semiconductor design.

Samsung Electronics is particularly active in recruiting master's and doctoral-level advanced personnel, offering higher salaries and stock options than before to recruit global AI semiconductor experts. Additionally, the company operates in-house AI Semiconductor Academy to strengthen existing employees' capabilities.

SK Hynix is also recruiting over 3,000 new personnel in 2025 to expand HBM market share. SK Hynix intensively recruits memory design, process technology, and packaging experts for HBM4 development and next-generation memory semiconductor technology acquisition.

Both companies' large-scale recruitment presents the best opportunity for domestic engineering college semiconductor and electronics engineering graduates. Major university semiconductor-related department graduates including Seoul National University, KAIST, POSTECH, and Sungkyunkwan University are recording 100% employment rates, with cases of receiving simultaneous hiring offers from multiple major corporations being common.

Hyundai Motor Group: Massive Automotive Semiconductor Personnel Acquisition

Hyundai Motor Group sets personnel acquisition as the top priority as the core of its automotive semiconductor independence strategy. Hyundai Motor plans to recruit over 1,000 new personnel in automotive semiconductor design and development in 2025, with a significant portion being experienced professionals with semiconductor design experience.

Hyundai Motor Group is scouting experts from global semiconductor companies including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Intel, and Qualcomm, recruiting talent with maximum 2x salary increases and executive promotion opportunities.

Hyundai Mobis is also significantly expanding related personnel recruitment with the launch of the automotive semiconductor forum. Hyundai Mobis recruits experts in various fields including electrification semiconductors, ADAS semiconductors, and electronic semiconductors, also actively recruiting local personnel at US Silicon Valley research bases.

With the convergence of automotive and semiconductor industries, cases of traditional automotive engineers transitioning to semiconductor fields are increasing. Hyundai Motor Group operates an in-house 'Semiconductor Expert Training Program' supporting existing automotive engineers to acquire semiconductor technology.

Naver·Kakao: Fierce AI Talent Recruitment Competition

Naver and Kakao are staking everything on AI specialist recruitment to secure AI technology competitiveness. Naver plans to recruit over 2,000 new personnel in AI in 2025, with over half being AI research and development personnel.

Naver is forming world-class AI research teams centered on Naver AI Lab and Naver Clova, actively recruiting researchers from global AI companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI. Additionally, the company is massively recruiting AI graduate school graduates from major domestic universities including Seoul National University, KAIST, and POSTECH.

Kakao is also advancing AI talent acquisition centered on Kakao Brain. Kakao recruits experts in various AI fields including natural language processing, computer vision, recommendation systems, and voice recognition for KoGPT advancement and AI service expansion.

Both companies' AI personnel recruitment competition is leading to salary increase competition. Cases of new AI researcher starting salaries exceeding 100 million won are frequent, with AI specialists with 5+ years of experience commonly receiving salaries exceeding 200 million won. Particularly, AI researchers holding doctoral degrees receive salaries exceeding 300 million won plus stock options.

Startup Ecosystem Also Expands Personnel Recruitment

Beyond major corporations, personnel recruitment in AI and semiconductor fields is active in the startup ecosystem. AI startups including Upbit AI, Wrtn Technologies, and DeepBrain AI are rapidly expanding personnel scale by attracting series investments.

Semiconductor fabless (design specialist) startups including Rebellions, Sapeon, and FuriosaAI are also massively recruiting design personnel for AI semiconductor development. These startups recruit excellent talent by offering higher stock options and autonomous work environments than major corporations.

Startup ecosystem personnel recruitment expansion contributes not only to youth job creation but also to technological innovation and startup ecosystem activation. Cases of engineers with major corporation experience moving to startups or directly starting businesses are increasing, becoming a factor raising Korean tech industry dynamism.

Engineering College Employment Rate Rising: Major Selection Trend Changes

Surging AI and semiconductor industry personnel demand is leading to engineering college employment rate increases. Particularly, electrical and electronic engineering, computer engineering, semiconductor engineering, and AI major departments record employment rates exceeding 95%, with major corporation employment rates also significantly increasing.

This trend is also influencing high school students' major selections. Looking at recent major university admission competition rates, semiconductor engineering and AI-related department competition rates are surging, with cases of humanities students also entering AI and software fields through double majors or department transfers increasing.

Universities are also newly establishing or expanding AI and semiconductor-related departments in line with this demand. Seoul National University established an AI Graduate School, while KAIST expanded semiconductor engineering department enrollment by 50%. Major universities including Sungkyunkwan University, Korea University, and Yonsei University are also pursuing AI and semiconductor department enrollment increases.

Government: 100,000 AI·Semiconductor Talent Training Plan

The Korean government is pursuing a '100,000 AI·Semiconductor Talent Training Plan.' The Ministry of Science and ICT aims to train 50,000 AI specialists and 50,000 semiconductor specialists by 2030, fulfilling industry personnel demand and securing technological competitiveness.

To achieve this, the government is pursuing various policies including △supporting AI and semiconductor graduate school establishment △expanding K-Digital Training △supporting industry-academia cooperation education programs △attracting overseas excellent talent.

Particularly, the government is expanding the 'contract department' system where companies and universities jointly train AI and semiconductor specialists. Major companies including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Naver operate contract departments with universities, providing students with scholarships and guaranteeing post-graduation employment.

Additionally, the government is simplifying visa issuance procedures and extending residence periods to attract excellent foreign talent. Incentives are also provided to Korean AI and semiconductor experts active in the US, China, India, and other countries to induce domestic return.

Tech Industry Employment Boom: Key to Resolving Youth Unemployment

AI and semiconductor industry employment market expansion is also contributing to resolving youth unemployment, a chronic problem in Korean society. According to Statistics Korea, youth unemployment in Q3 2025 recorded 6.2%, down 1.5 percentage points year-over-year, the lowest level in the past 5 years.

Particularly as engineering graduates' employment rates and wage levels significantly improve, youth entry into technical fields is increasing. As preference for engineering over humanities becomes prominent in Korean society where humanities preference was traditionally strong, this is positively impacting industrial structure advancement.

A Ministry of Employment and Labor official stated, "AI and semiconductor industry growth is leading youth job creation and wage increases," adding "The government will continuously improve education and training systems in line with tech industry personnel demand to support youth in securing quality jobs."

Challenge Tasks: Sustainable Job Creation and Talent Retention

However, concerns are raised about whether the current AI and semiconductor employment boom is sustainable. Some experts point out that given semiconductor industry business cycle characteristics, the employment market may contract again when the current supercycle ends.

Additionally, the 'talent outflow' problem of excellent AI and semiconductor personnel trained domestically flowing overseas seeking higher salaries and better research environments is serious. Many doctoral-level talents from Korean AI graduate schools are moving to US companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI, potentially weakening Korea's AI industry long-term competitiveness.

In response, companies are advancing welfare and research environment improvements to secure and retain excellent talent from a long-term perspective. Representative initiatives include introducing flexible work systems, guaranteeing in-house research autonomy, supporting overseas conference attendance, and strengthening patent compensation systems.

AI and semiconductor industry employment market expansion is positively impacting Korea's economy and society. However, challenges remain for companies, government, and universities to collaborate in continuously investing in talent training and retention to sustain this positive trend.

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Read the original Korean article: AI·반도체 붐, 한국 기술 산업 고용 시장 활짝…청년 일자리 급증