South Korea's semiconductor talent war is heating up, with Samsung Electronics raising pay and stock rewards to keep core engineers as global rivals Micron and SanDisk recruit aggressively in Seoul, according to IThome, citing Asia Today.
Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker, is fighting to protect its lead in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and NAND flash as AI data-center investments drive demand. The company increased total employee compensation in the first half of the year even as headcount fell slightly, and it plans additional equity grants tied to the performance of its Device Solutions (DS) division, which houses the semiconductor business.
Rivals target Korean talent pool
SanDisk, the U.S. NAND flash maker, has been hiring in Seoul for roles in NAND system architecture, core design, and solid-state drive (SSD) firmware. Micron has also opened positions in the South Korean capital for senior HBM design engineers, according to the report.
Korea is a key hunting ground because it hosts a dense cluster of DRAM and NAND design and process experts centered on Samsung and SK Hynix. The competition is pushing up engineers' market value globally. Micron, for instance, has offered Taiwan-based employees incentives that could reach the equivalent of 68 months of salary based on fiscal 2026 performance, with average total pay for new engineers around 3.4 million New Taiwan dollars (about 722,000 yuan, or $101,700).
Samsung's own compensation data reflects the pressure. In the first half of the year, its headquarters workforce dipped to 129,200 from 129,524 a year earlier, but total employee compensation rose 6.8% to 8.0121 trillion won (about 39.94 billion yuan, or $5.63 billion) from 7.5013 trillion won. The company's separate financial statements show salary expenses jumped to 25.7659 trillion won (about 128.44 billion yuan, or $18.09 billion), roughly 3.1 times the year-earlier 8.4319 trillion won, though that figure includes accrued long-term incentives and stock awards rather than just cash wages.
Equity rewards to lock in talent
Samsung has also stepped up stock-based compensation to prevent attrition. In the first half, it promised employees 1,777,305 common shares, valued at 370.568 billion won (about 1.847 billion yuan, or $26 million) at signing-date fair value. Some shares were already distributed, with the rest scheduled to vest by 2028.
The focus is shifting from recruiting new hires to retaining existing key staff, the report noted. Samsung also plans to grant DS division employees restricted shares tied to a portion of 2026 operating results, with details still under negotiation. Earlier, it issued equity awards to workers in its Device eXperience (DX) and CSS units, valued at 332.7 billion won (about 1.659 billion yuan, or $23.4 million).
As the memory industry cycle improves, DS division pay is rising faster than other units, potentially widening internal gaps and prompting calls for fairness. Unions have already pushed for separate negotiations reflecting the different interests of the DS and DX divisions. Samsung's talent retention costs are likely to keep climbing as it balances external competition with internal equity, according to IThome.
