Korea to Let Engineers Earn Doctorates Through Corporate R&D

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Earning an "Industrial Doctorate" With Corporate R&D Results

Key summary: The Ministry of Science and ICT has finalized its Fifth Basic Plan for Fostering and Supporting Science and Technology Talent (2026-2030), formally adopting an "industrial degree system" under which a doctorate can be earned through corporate R&D results rather than a dissertation. Under the scheme, an engineer at a semiconductor company who develops next-generation process technology, or a researcher at an AI company who builds a new model, can have that work recognized as doctoral research. Starting next year, 120 specialized research personnel will be assigned to large companies and 120 to government-funded research institutes, for a total of 240, easing career interruptions caused by military service. The number of scholarship recipients among science and engineering graduate students will also be expanded more than threefold, from about 3,000 currently to 10,000. With the shrinking school-age population expected to reduce the number of science and engineering master's and doctoral graduates after 2030, the plan is seen as institutionalizing a path for corporate researchers to develop into advanced personnel without leaving the field.

2. Young People Want Jobs at Large Firms, but Government Scraps 56.2 Billion Won in Tax Breaks

Key summary: Under this year's tax code revision, large companies will be excluded from the integrated employment tax credit starting next year. As of 2024, the benefit received by large companies amounted to 56.2 billion won. The credit — 3 million won in the first year and 5 million won in the second year for each new hire aged 34 or younger — will disappear. Business circles worry that new hiring could shrink, given the concurrent debate over extending the retirement age, and the Federation of Korean Industries said a psychological chill on hiring is being detected in the field. Instead of tax incentives, the government plans to strengthen fiscal support of 300,000 to 600,000 won a month for large companies outside the greater Seoul area and for small and mid-sized firms through programs such as the K-New Deal Academy. Experts say a system is needed to check whether jobs are maintained after the subsidies end.

3. The U.S. Turns to AI in Public Education as the Talent War Reaches Classrooms

Key summary: Starting in September, Boston will introduce a curriculum at more than 20 public high schools covering how AI works, the basics of data and algorithms, and critical and ethical use of AI. In an Ipsos survey of 545 U.S. teachers, 78% said instruction on the responsible use of AI should be included in school curricula. In China, Hangzhou has made at least 10 hours of AI instruction a year mandatory from elementary school, and Shanghai requires as many as 30 hours a year, while the United Arab Emirates has designated AI a required subject across all public education from age 4 — a wide gap in pace. As AI literacy and the ability to use the technology critically become basic competencies, industry demand for talent with those skills is expected to climb as well.

4. Export Volumes Fall but Prices Jump 37%; Spot Prices Five Times LTA Levels

Key summary: According to the Korea International Trade Association, export volumes of DRAM for AI chips, including HBM, fell 13.2% from about 681.79 million units in May to 591.74 million in July, while the export unit price surged 36.6% over the same period, from $16.76 to $22.90. Expanded HBM supply to big tech firms including Nvidia, Microsoft and Google, combined with low early yields for HBM4, is deepening an overall DRAM supply shortage. Samsung Electronics (005930) is reported to have allocated about 70% of its production capacity to LTA volumes through 2031, and the spot price for 36-gigabyte HBM3E has reached $2,100, four to five times the LTA contract price. Because the semiconductor industry's supply shortage is structurally difficult to resolve in the short term, demand for personnel in memory design, process and quality is expected to persist.

5. Japanese Robot Arms May Run Korea's Manufacturing AX: "Bold Acquisitions of Core Firms Needed"

Key summary: Korea's robot density in manufacturing stands at 1,220 units per 10,000 workers, far ahead of Germany (449), Japan (446) and the U.S. (307), yet a Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade survey ranked the country last in overall competitiveness, behind Germany, Japan, the U.S., Switzerland and China. Heavy reliance on imports for core components such as motors and reducers is cited as the cause, and many of the robot arms used on factory floors are Japanese, including those from Yaskawa Electric. China's Estun has completed a robot value chain by acquiring British, U.S. and German companies one after another since 2017, while Korea's own supply chain remains weak. As the shift to AX and RX on the factory floor emerges as a matter of survival rather than choice, demand for workers in AI vision and robot systems is expected to rise quickly, analysts say.

6. Korea's Trade Share With CPTPP Exceeds That With U.S. and China: "Joining Would Strengthen Supply Chains"

Key summary: As the government begins discussions on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), trade between Korea and CPTPP member countries totals $341 billion, or 25% of the country's overall trade — above the shares for China (20%) and the U.S. (15%). The Peterson Institute for International Economics said joining could ease supply chain risks for critical minerals and machinery. Korea has yet to conclude free trade agreements with Japan and Mexico, two of the CPTPP's 12 members, and there are warnings that the longer accession is delayed, the weaker Korea's leverage in shaping the rules will become. As trade and commercial conditions grow more diversified, demand from companies and the government for specialists in international trade and supply chains is expected to expand.