Chip Hiring Booms: First-Half Job Postings Surge 47%

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. Chip Hiring Booms Too: First-Half Postings Surge 47%

Key Summary: Entry-level job postings in the semiconductor industry soared 47% year-on-year in the first half of this year, with the share of entry-level positions in overall semiconductor postings reaching 12.2%, the highest in five years. SK hynix abolished educational requirements in its entry-level open recruitment last month, and Samsung Electronics also began expanding its workforce across 82 job functions, including HBM, advanced packaging, and leading-edge foundry. The battle among global companies for domestic talent has also intensified, with Nvidia and Micron's first-half domestic job postings already exceeding their total postings from last year by more than 50%. The expansion of AI infrastructure is causing seismic shifts in the hiring market, and it is assessed that a rare employment opportunity has opened for majors related to semiconductors and AI hardware in recent years.

2. Hyundai Motor Partners With Jeonbuk National University to Cultivate 'Saemangeum AI Talent'

Key Summary: Hyundai Motor signed an MOU with Jeonbuk National University and North Jeolla Province to pursue the establishment of contract departments in physical AI, robotics, and hydrogen energy. Under the structure, Jeonbuk National University develops the curriculum while Hyundai Motor supports training by practical experts, with measures to link completers to employment to be discussed later. Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest 9 trillion won in Saemangeum in an AI data center, a robot manufacturing cluster, and water electrolysis plants, with the data center targeting groundbreaking in 2027 and completion in 2029. Analysts say that as industry-academia hiring channels expand, enrolling in related contract departments or participating in industry-academia programs will act as a practical competitive advantage for job seekers.

3. Earning in the U.S., Spending in Korea: K-Startups Growing in Silicon Valley

Key Summary: A structure in which Silicon Valley-based Korean startups—including Moloco, an AI advertising company valued at around 4 trillion won, as well as Sendbird and Twelvelabs—place R&D organizations and development personnel in Korea is taking root. Moloco's Korea office recorded 62.7 billion won in service revenue last year and spent more than 30 billion won on labor costs alone for about 180 employees. As of April, there were 193 Korean-American startups headquartered in the United States, and in the AI and deep tech fields, where proving technological competitiveness alone allows companies to target the global market from the early stages of founding, local founding is becoming more active. With global startups expanding their domestic R&D bases, it is assessed that a new path—different from traditional large-company employment—is opening for job seekers equipped with English communication skills and AI technology capabilities.

4. Seoul City Creates 4 Trillion Won Fund for AI, Bio, K-Culture

Key Summary: The Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching the 'Next Economy Seoul Fund' to nurture future growth industries such as AI, bio, and K-culture, contributing a total of 200 billion won at 50 billion won each year for four years starting next year. By region, the northeast zone will specialize in bio and high-tech, the northwest in K-content, the southeast in AI and robotics, and the southwest in advanced manufacturing and AI, with a goal of creating 100 future advanced-technology startups and 10,000 quality jobs. Under the structure, public funds serve as seed money to offset the contraction of private venture investment, with the total fund size reaching around 4 trillion won. Prospects are emerging that hiring conditions will improve, centered on AI, bio, and content startups located in Seoul, and observers say this could lead to expanded employment opportunities at small and venture businesses for job seekers in related fields.

5. The Compass of Capital Markets: Analysts Are Leaving

Key Summary: The number of analysts, which stood at 1,575 in 2010, has fallen to around 1,000 in recent years, and as securities firms minimize research staffing, the number of reports written per person has risen from 15 to more than 20 per year. While the scope of work has expanded to include wealth management (WM) support, investment banking (IB) collaboration, and YouTube content production, compensation has fallen below that of retail and IB departments, and research centers are increasingly relegated to 'cost centers.' It is assessed that external pressure has also grown—such as rebuttals from listed companies or collective protests from individual investors when negative reports are issued—making it a structure in which star analysts are hard to emerge. Some say that job seekers aiming for finance positions need to re-examine their employment strategies, favoring departments with higher revenue contributions such as WM and IB over analyst roles.

6. DC, IRP Grew 62 Trillion Won in Six Months

Key Summary: Total retirement pension reserves in the first half of this year reached 553.9 trillion won, up 57.1 trillion won (11.5%) from the end of last year, with DC-type and IRP surging a combined 61.7 trillion won over six months, exceeding the previous year's increase by 21.5%. In contrast, DB-type reserves recorded their first-ever half-year decline, and their share of the total fell from 46.1% to 40.5%. Analysts say the rise of the 40s-50s generation, accustomed to direct investment, has changed the retirement pension management culture, and that following the implementation of the retirement pension in-kind transfer system, a growing number of workers are transferring their accounts to securities firms where ETF trading is possible. Observers say new employees choosing a retirement pension type at their first job need to be aware that DC-type and IRP may be more advantageous than DB-type in terms of long-term returns.