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Elon Musk directly courts Korean chip engineers in AI talent war

Published: 18 Feb. 2026, 18:52 Updated: 18 Feb. 2026, 19:16

Elon Musk attends the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington on Nov. 19, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is directly appealing to Korean semiconductor engineers to join his company as he moves to build his own large-scale chip production hub in order to secure a stable supply of AI processors.

Musk on Monday shared a Tesla Korea job posting for AI chip design engineers on his X account, adding 16 Korean flag emojis.

“If you're in Korea and want to work on chip design, fabrication or AI software, join Tesla!” Musk said.

Musk’s push aligns with what he calls “Tera Fab,” a plan to build a large semiconductor complex that would handle chip production, memory manufacturing and packaging in one place to meet the growing demand for AI processors used in humanoid robots and autonomous driving systems — which he has identified as Tesla’s next major growth drivers.

An X post shared by Elon Musk on Feb. 16 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The concept resembles Tesla’s Gigafactory model, which produces batteries and vehicles at a single large-scale site.

Musk first outlined plans to produce semiconductors at a shareholder meeting in November last year and has described chip self-sufficiency as critical to Tesla’s long-term strategy, warning last month that without AI chips, its humanoid robot Optimus would be little more than an empty shell.

He also said in January that even with partnerships with Samsung Electronics, TSMC and Micron Technology, Tesla may struggle to meet future chip demand, adding that building Tera Fab would likely become necessary within the next three to four years.

As Tesla positions robotics and full self-driving as key growth engines beyond EVs, securing advanced AI processors has become central to its road map.

“To turn his semiconductor self-sufficiency vision into reality, Musk has set his sights first on Korean engineers,” an industry source said.

The logo of SK Hynix is seen on its product during the 26th Semiconductor Exhibition in southern Seoul on Oct. 23, 2024. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Overseas tech giants are already fervently competing to hire Korean engineers.

Industry sources say Korea has strong hands-on experience in large-scale memory chip production and a broad talent pool with practical skills in both chip manufacturing and chip design.

“Samsung Electronics and SK hynix lead the high bandwidth memory market, which has reinforced the perception that Korean engineers represent top-tier talent,” a source within the semiconductor industry said. “These days, even engineers without design experience receive recruitment offers if they have worked at either company.”

Global tech firms have already intensified hiring efforts.

Nvidia currently offers annual compensation of up to $258,800, including stock awards, to high bandwidth memory (HBM) engineers with at least eight years of experience. Broadcom offers up to $146,000 and Micron Technology up to $116,000 for similar roles.

Nvidia and OpenAI logos are seen in this illustration made on Sept. 22, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Last month, Nvidia posted recruitment notices in English on bulletin boards at major universities, including Seoul National University. In December last year, Micron Technology representatives visited Seoul National University, Korea University and Hanyang University and hired people on-site.

Demand for semiconductor engineers is expected to outpace supply.

Domestic demand will reach 304,000 workers by 2031, while new entrants to the field will hover at around 5,000 annually, according to the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. At that pace, Korea could face a shortfall of 54,000 semiconductor engineers by 2031.

“If domestic semiconductor companies fail to offer competitive compensation and strong research environments, it will be difficult to prevent the outflow of talent, which is a national asset,” said Yoo Hoi-jun, dean of the Graduate School of AI Semiconductor at KAIST.

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.
BY KIM SU-MIN, LEE YOUNG-KEUN [[email protected]]