[Semiconductor Workforce Shortage] Following Yoon's Super-Gap Strategy, Political Circles Also Join Industrial Development Efforts

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The semiconductor industry, the top contributor to our country's exports, is on the verge of being shaken to its core due to chronic labor shortages. The industry has been complaining about the persistent shortage of manpower for years and has called for government-level measures, but the nurturing of talent, which is crucial to the semiconductor industry, has been pushed aside due to complacent responses from various ministries.

Meanwhile, major countries such as the United States, China, and Europe have successively declared their semiconductor ambitions, putting the status of 'Semiconductor Korea' at risk. This is the background behind the government and political circles, belatedly recognizing the seriousness, pulling out support cards one after another. President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol has also emphasized that the semiconductor industry, a core pillar of future national competitiveness, must be further revitalized to secure the so-called 'semiconductor super-gap,' leading to expectations that the next administration will foster the related industry.

◆ No distinction between ruling and opposition parties in semiconductor promotion = According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 19th, 13 members including Ahn Min-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea proposed the 'Korea Artificial Intelligence and Semiconductor Engineering University Act' the day before. The bill aims to establish a so-called semiconductor university to solve the industry's chronic manpower shortage.

The background for proposing the bill was the judgment that it is virtually impossible to secure 36,000 semiconductor industry personnel needed over the next 10 years under the current system. Representative Ahn explained, "It is intended to contribute to strengthening national competitiveness and to leap forward as a leading country in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution."

Specifically, the bill stipulates establishing a special corporation semiconductor university to provide a basis for stable financial support and to play a central tower role in fostering specialized personnel by building an industry-academia-research cooperation system. It also requires the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy to directly support and nurture this and to coordinate and supervise the work.

In particular, the bill includes provisions that the Capital Region Readjustment Planning Act will not apply to the establishment of the related school. Considering the significant differences of opinion between ministries and local communities regarding the amendment of the relevant law, this presents a new solution for establishing a new school. Therefore, if the bill passes, it is expected to significantly help resolve the industry's chronic manpower shortage.

President-elect Yoon has also been presenting support measures to secure the 'semiconductor super-gap' one after another. The Science and Technology Education Subcommittee of the Transition Committee announced the day before that it will focus on reviewing 'strengthening semiconductor technological competitiveness' as a national agenda. Specifically, ▲ establishing an industry-academia-research cooperation platform for semiconductor R&D ▲ advancing and enhancing connectivity of public semiconductor fabs ▲ designating and fostering national core semiconductor research labs ▲ promoting quantitative and qualitative expansion of semiconductor personnel.

Both ruling and opposition parties voicing a unified stance on fostering the semiconductor industry shows how serious the situation is. It reflects the sense of crisis that we can no longer afford to be late while major countries around the world are pouring out full-scale support plans to secure semiconductor competitiveness. In fact, the United States, the European Union, and Taiwan have recently launched unprecedented full-scale support for fostering the semiconductor industry.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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◆ Companies pouring money... rolling up sleeves to secure manpower = Companies are competitively improving employee salaries and welfare to attract talent. The semiconductor industry expects Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to raise salaries by about 8% this year as well. SK Hynix already decided on an 8% wage increase for employees last year, double the usual level. Wage negotiations for 2022 are expected to begin as early as next month. Since wages were significantly raised last year, there is little room to increase further this year, but given the fierce competition for semiconductor personnel, maintaining last year's wage increase rate is considered a possible scenario.

Samsung Electronics, which raised employee wages by an average of 7.5% last year, is currently in wage negotiations between labor and management. The increase rate has not yet been finalized. Samsung Electronics' labor representatives demanded a record-high basic increase rate of 15.72% this year, but the company rejected it. The general view is that the increase rate will likely be aligned with SK Hynix's level. Foundry-specialized company DB Hitek has taken a bold step to secure semiconductor personnel by raising starting salaries for new employees by 14.3% this year. DB Hitek's starting salary is aligned with Samsung Electronics' level.

They have also jumped into direct manpower training. These companies have partnered with universities to establish semiconductor departments so that graduates can be secured as new employees immediately upon graduation. SK Hynix signed a contract this month with Hanyang University to nurture next-generation semiconductor talent and support the establishment of a semiconductor engineering department.

According to the agreement, Hanyang University will establish a semiconductor engineering department within its College of Engineering and select the first batch of 40 freshmen (24 early admission, 16 regular admission) by the end of the year. Selected students will receive full tuition and academic scholarships and will be employed by SK Hynix after graduation. SK Hynix has previously signed agreements with Korea University and Sogang University to establish departments for semiconductor professional manpower training. Samsung Electronics is also cooperating with Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University, KAIST, and POSTECH on semiconductor departments.

Kang Sung-chul, senior research fellow at the Korea Semiconductor Display Technology Society, said, "Since semiconductors are directly linked to national security, regardless of the new government, both ruling and opposition parties must contribute to fostering the industry," and suggested, "The government should actively drive policies focusing on tax support, infrastructure expansion, deregulation, and manpower training."

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