TSMC, the world's largest foundry company, plans to hire 8,000 new employees this year, offering master's degree-holding engineers starting salaries of approximately 2.2 million Taiwan dollars ($70,000).
According to Taiwan's CNA news agency on the 9th (local time), the average annual salary for new engineers with master's degrees at TSMC reaches about 2.2 million Taiwan dollars (approximately 103 million Korean won).
TSMC has launched full-scale recruitment starting with a job fair at National Taiwan University. The company plans to hold additional hiring events at major Taiwanese universities while also conducting online recruitment.
The hiring spans diverse fields including electrical and electronic engineering, optoelectronics, physics, materials engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, and industrial engineering. Non-engineering positions in business management, human resources, and accounting are also available. The company is actively seeking talent in emerging technology fields as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and big data applications expand.
Korean semiconductor companies are also competing for talent. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will begin full-scale recruitment this month. Samsung Electronics plans to expand hiring to foster advanced industries and increase youth employment. SK hynix is preparing to recruit new employees in core areas including High Bandwidth Memory, DRAM and NAND research and development, and packaging development.
As competition for talent intensifies, compensation levels are rising rapidly. SK hynix reportedly paid performance bonuses equivalent to 2,964% of base salary last year, amounting to approximately 130 million to 140 million won ($90,000-$97,000), following record earnings during the semiconductor boom.
Samsung Electronics also proposed bonuses exceeding 100 million won, but the plan remains unconfirmed due to union opposition over the Overachievement Performance Incentive system, which caps bonuses at 50% of annual salary.
Global companies are also aggressively recruiting semiconductor talent. Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on social media seeking Korean semiconductor professionals. "If you live in Korea and want to work in chip design, fabrication, or AI software, apply to Tesla," Musk wrote.
Industry observers note that competition for core talent has intensified as AI proliferation accelerates advanced process competition. Securing skilled engineers in high-difficulty technical fields such as advanced process technology, cutting-edge packaging, and AI chip design is critical to corporate competitiveness.
The talent war is expanding globally as major semiconductor nations including the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea pursue production facility expansion and supply chain restructuring.