Entry-level semiconductor hiring surges as AI boom widens the door
Both domestic and international chip firms are boosting their talent pipelines at the junior level, as total chip sector openings rose about 20 percent on year.
From left: The flag of Samsung Electronics is seen outside the company's office in Seocho District, southern Seoul; SK hynix's logo is seen at the company's headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi.YONHAP
Entry-level hiring across Korea's semiconductor industry jumped in the first half of the year as an AI-driven chip boom pushed manufacturers to increase their intake of junior employees.
Postings for entry-level semiconductor roles rose 47 percent from a year earlier, the job platform JobKorea said Monday.
Entry-level positions accounted for 12.2 percent of all semiconductor postings, up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier and the highest share in five years. Hiring in the sector has long skewed toward experienced engineers, and the shift suggests companies are now building the bottom of their talent pipelines as well.
Total semiconductor postings — entry-level and experienced combined — rose about 20 percent. The average across all industries was 14 percent.
JobKorea attributed the increase largely to aggressive recruiting at SK hynix and Samsung Electronics.
SK hynix opened rolling entry-level hiring last month and also dropped the four-year degree requirement that had previously appeared in its postings. Applicants are now assessed on job competency, experience and cultural fit. The company said it would hire in the triple digits for core roles including chip design, an unusually large intake for a rolling round.
Samsung Electronics is running a separate drive across 82 job categories in its chip division. The roles span high-bandwidth memory, advanced packaging, leading-edge foundry work and AI-based manufacturing. That round is for mid-career hires and closes on July 27. The two companies' moves have raised expectations of expanded open and rolling recruitment in the second half.
A Micron logo appears in this illustration created on Aug. 25, 2025.REUTERS/YONHAP
Foreign chipmakers are also hiring more in Korea. Postings from Nvidia and Micron in the first half already exceed their combined total for all of last year by about 50 percent, JobKorea said.
Job-seeker interest has grown in line with the openings. Searches on JobKorea for terms related to SK hynix rose 180 percent from a year earlier.
Ahead of the second-half hiring season, JobKorea is running a High-Tech channel on its site for candidates targeting the semiconductor and rechargeable battery sectors. It carries about 5,000 listings updated in real time, alongside a standing channel for entry-level and internship roles aimed at university students and first-time job seekers.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
