System Semiconductor Industry Struggling with Labor Shortage... Taking Direct Talent Development Measures

Launch of 'Seongnam System Semiconductor Academy' This May
Led by Industry Including Korea System Semiconductor Forum
Training R&D Personnel Through Re-education of Seongnam Youth Residents
"A Control Tower Is Needed to Oversee Government Policies"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] The system semiconductor industry is taking direct action to resolve the manpower shortage by nurturing talent themselves. They plan to cultivate research and development (R&D) personnel internally through youth retraining programs to meet supply and demand. This highlights the deepening manpower shortage in the system semiconductor sector, to the extent that small and medium-sized enterprises must actively seek self-help measures. Although the government is also preparing talent development plans, voices are emerging that a command center is needed as various related ministries are pursuing policies individually.

According to the industry on the 17th, the Korea System Semiconductor Forum will launch the first class of the 'Seongnam System Semiconductor Academy (tentative name)' at Gachon University this May. The academy is a retraining program aimed at cultivating specialized personnel in system semiconductors. The Korea System Semiconductor Forum supports employment at system semiconductor companies for students who complete the educational course. Member companies of the Korea System Semiconductor Forum are reportedly planning to confirm hiring through interviews with trainees during the curriculum. It is a kind of recruitment-linked program. Seongnam City provides funding for the program's operation. Depending on the performance of the first class, Seongnam City is considering expanding and regularizing the program.

The first class of the academy will consist of about 30 people. There are a total of 11 subjects within the program. The curriculum was developed through collaboration between industry and academia, including the Korea System Semiconductor Forum and the Semiconductor Engineering Society. Each subject is tentatively set at 48 hours of instruction. Any youth residing in Seongnam City can apply. It is not necessary to be a semiconductor-related major. The Korea System Semiconductor Forum intends to prioritize job seekers such as university seniors over working professionals when selecting trainees.

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, visited the Gyeonggi-do Pangyo System Semiconductor Design Support Center on the morning of the 6th to review Mobilint's system semiconductor solutions.
Seongnam - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Privately Led Planning...Manpower Shortage 'Severe'

The academy was planned under the leadership of private companies such as the Korea System Semiconductor Forum. The Korea System Semiconductor Forum is an organization with about 70 small and medium-sized system semiconductor companies as members. The reason the industry is directly nurturing talent is due to the increasingly severe manpower shortage in system semiconductors. The government's talent development policies have not kept pace with market demand, forcing the industry to find self-help measures.

The manpower shortage in system semiconductors is at a critical level. According to the industry, about 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students related to semiconductor R&D graduate annually. This is about half of the estimated market demand of approximately 4,000 personnel. The number of master's and doctoral graduates majoring in semiconductor studies averaged only about 60 per year from 2011 to 2020. Given this situation, some system semiconductor companies are also pursuing plans to directly train graduates from specialized high schools to become R&D personnel.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are relatively vulnerable to manpower shortages. They lose out to large corporations in hiring new employees, and personnel turnover is frequent. At system semiconductor company A located in Pangyo, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, three R&D personnel moved to large companies such as LG Electronics just this month. The CEO of company A said, "The fundamental cause of the manpower shortage is the lack of talent graduating from universities, but the poaching of personnel by large companies is also significant," adding, "If someone has worked at a somewhat well-known system semiconductor company, they are scouted without even asking about their current salary, offering an additional 10 to 20 million KRW."

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is watching a demonstration of the EDA design tool ahead of the 'Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Meeting' held on the 6th at the Gyeonggi Seongnam System Semiconductor Design Support Center. / Seongnam - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Government Policies Are 'Spot Measures'...“Command Center Needed”

There is also skepticism about government policies. Industry insiders unanimously said, "Most system semiconductor policies are 2-3 year 'spot measures'." The system semiconductor field requires policy design based on a long-term roadmap of at least 5 to 10 years, but most related ministries have focused on short-term results.

The expertise of policy officials is also an obstacle. The average tenure of section chief-level personnel in charge of policy execution in each ministry is only 2 to 3 years. For example, the Semiconductor Display Division of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which handles system semiconductor policies, has reportedly replaced section chiefs more than twice in the past three years. These officials implement policies with companies on the ground but are unlikely to have sufficient understanding and expertise about the industry. There is also the problem that section chiefs focus only on detailed tasks that can produce results within their 2-3 year tenure.

One solution proposed is the establishment of a control tower. A task force (TF) composed of government and industry experts could oversee system semiconductor policies across related ministries. According to the industry, a control tower would ensure consistency in system semiconductor policies scattered across the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, while also enhancing the expertise of officials in charge. Kim Kyungsoo, CEO of Nextchip, a first-generation domestic system semiconductor company, said, "A control tower composed of a pool of experts who have been in the industry for over 10 years is necessary," adding, "It would also improve the inefficiency of companies having to monitor system semiconductor-related tasks across three ministries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.