'Taking and Retaking'... Talent Battle Among US Big Tech Companies

Recruiting Talent for the Metaverse
In-House Semiconductor Chip Development Efforts Also Exacerbate Labor Shortage

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The world's largest software company Microsoft (MS) is recruiting key talent from Apple to develop its own semiconductor chips. Meta (formerly Facebook), which has declared an 'all-in on the metaverse,' is also aggressively hiring developers from leading companies MS and Apple, intensifying the talent war among big tech companies.

(Photo by Reuters)

MS recently hired Mike Filippo, a veteran semiconductor designer from Apple, to oversee processors for its cloud service 'Azure.' Filippo, formerly of AMD and Intel, is a key developer who significantly contributed to improving the performance of ARM semiconductors used in Apple smartphones.

Bloomberg reported, "This recruitment is part of MS's effort to independently develop server chips that power the Azure cloud computing service," adding, "If MS secures chips exclusively for Azure, longtime supply partners Intel and AMD will be impacted."

MS has shown moves to independently develop custom chips for servers, PCs, and tablets. Last year, it also launched an open call for developing a system-on-chip that integrates various semiconductors such as processors, graphics, audio/video, and storage into a single chip.

The competition to recruit software and hardware engineer talent in the metaverse sector, emerging as a new growth engine for big tech companies, is also intensifying.

Leading company MS lost 100 key personnel to competitors last year. Most of those who left MS reportedly moved to Meta. Meta is said to have offered some of these recruits more than double their previous salaries as it sought talent with experience in developing MS's augmented reality (AR) device 'HoloLens.'

Having declared an all-in on the metaverse, Meta is aggressively absorbing virtual reality (VR) and AR-related personnel from outside to secure service competitiveness amid fierce competition. Meta is also attempting to recruit related engineers from Apple, and Apple is fiercely fighting to retain its core talent by offering large bonuses, escalating the talent war.

CNBC reported, "Meta, along with Apple, MS, and Google, plans to launch a large number of hardware products and software services in the metaverse sector, which has been a niche market until now," adding, "This year will be the most significant year in metaverse history."

The semiconductor supply shortage triggered by COVID-19 has also emerged as a major factor intensifying the talent war among big tech companies. As supply chain disruptions cause difficulties, big tech companies are accelerating their independent chip development efforts and are putting all their efforts into recruiting related personnel externally.

Foreign media have reported that big tech companies' independent chip development efforts will accelerate, not only to improve profitability but also because using custom-designed chips optimizes performance and maximizes product competitiveness.

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