SK hynix launches recruitment push aimed at Samsung's struggling chip units

SK hynix has launched a midcareer recruitment drive targeting skills at the heart of Samsung Electronics' chip divisions, fueling speculation of a talent exodus at its rival.

The company posted job listings on Wednesday for two roles tied to its high bandwidth memory (HBM) business. One, for an "HBM Foundry PI" position, lists hands-on experience in leading-edge foundry processes as a preferred qualification. Another, for "HBM Digital Design," requires experience in low-power design and logic process engineering — a profile that closely matches engineers at Samsung's System LSI and Foundry divisions, who work on logic semiconductors such as application processors and neural processing units.

Industry insiders widely view the listings as a direct play for talent from those two units. The recruitment push reflects the limits of memory technology alone in next-generation HBM competition. As demand for AI chips grows, comprehensive capabilities spanning packaging, logic design and advanced process nodes have become central to competitiveness.

"The importance of being able to directly apply advanced logic semiconductor design skills to products, and of understanding external foundry processes — such as those at TSMC — well enough to collaborate effectively, is only growing," said Lee Byung-hun, a professor of semiconductor engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology. 

The timing has not gone unnoticed. Inside Samsung's System LSI and Foundry divisions, frustration over bonus disparities has been running high. Because both units are loss-making, their employees receive significantly lower performance bonuses than colleagues in the Memory division. Under a labor-management agreement, the Memory division employees receive bonuses equivalent to roughly six times their base annual salary, while those in nonmemory units receive around twice their base pay.

Samsung Foundry division head Han Jin-man held an all-hands briefing on June 12 in an attempt to address employees' concerns, but failed to quell the anger. System LSI staff have also reportedly voiced frustration, with some saying they feel they are "sacrificing for the Mobile Experience division and Foundry."

When SK hynix's job listings went live, posts referencing a potential move to SK hynix multiplied on internal message boards. "There were employees openly pulling up the SK hynix job posting at their desks — that's how chaotic the atmosphere was," one Samsung semiconductor engineer said.

The competition for talent between the two companies is set to intensify. Because AI chips require memory, logic and packaging technologies to work in close concert, engineers with cross-disciplinary experience have a direct bearing on product competitiveness. Analysts have noted that Samsung's improved performance evaluations for HBM4 owe much to technical collaboration across its Memory, Foundry and System LSI divisions — making the prospect of talent loss all the more consequential.

Experts say Samsung must urgently repair internal cohesion and overhaul its compensation structure if it is to maintain its standing as an integrated device manufacturer. "Internal solidarity at Samsung appears to have weakened significantly since the bonus controversy," said Shin Jae-yong, a professor of business administration at Seoul National University. "Improving the compensation structure is necessary, but so is strengthening the 'chemical bonding' between divisions — that is what will prevent the loss of key talent."

BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN [[email protected]]