Taiwan turns to Korean grads as it chips away at Korea's semiconductor lead

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Taiwan turns to Korean grads as it chips away at Korea's semiconductor lead

Published: 17 Dec. 2025, 07:00

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Students at Seoul National University’s Gwanak campus in southern Seoul take part in job interviews held by the Taiwanese branch of U.S. chipmaker Micron on Dec. 10. [YI WOO-LIM]

Micron, a competitor of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in the chip race, is turning Taiwan into a key production base for high bandwidth memory (HBM) — and it's accelerating efforts to recruit Korean talent to make that work.

The company held job interviews at Korea University on Monday, Hanyang University on Tuesday and Seoul National University on Wednesday. Successful candidates will be stationed in Taiwan. While a U.S. company is doing the hiring, the Korean recruits are effectively being absorbed into the Taiwanese semiconductor ecosystem.

Korean engineering students are also seizing the moment.

At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the first floor of the College of Engineering building at Seoul National University’s Gwanak campus was crowded with students in their department jackets. Among them were job seekers in business suits, visibly tense as they waited for interviews with the Taiwan branch of Micron.

“I applied based on a recommendation from a colleague who joined last year,” said an applicant surnamed Heo. “Taiwan has many global companies, which could help me grow my career and gain a broader perspective on the industry.”

One added draw: Successful candidates are hired after a single round of interviews. Last year, 98 students from top Korean universities were offered positions.

The starting salary for entry-level engineers in Taiwan is roughly $35,000 to $50,000, which is not particularly high compared to Korea. However, applicants are drawn by the strength of Taiwan’s chip ecosystem, which integrates fabless companies and foundries for a synergistic effect.

This photo shows the logo of TSMC during the Taiwan Innotech Expo at the World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 14, 2022. [AP/YONHAP]]

The semiconductor industry in East Asia has long revolved around what’s known as the JaKoTa triangle — Japan, Korea and Taiwan — each specializing in a different segment: memory chips in Korea, materials and equipment in Japan and foundries in Taiwan. Since the 1980s, Korea has led the pack in memory, but Taiwan is now emerging as a dominant force through its foundry champion, TSMC.

Just five years ago, the company's market capitalization trailed Samsung Electronics’ $442.1 billion valuation. But in 2021, it pulled ahead and, as of Thursday, has reached a market cap of $1 trillion to rank eighth globally among publicly traded companies. Once a mere subcontractor for U.S. Big Tech, foundries have become crucial players in the AI supply chain, and with its high-yield advanced manufacturing, TSMC is absorbing more and more orders.

The firm's rise has lifted the entire Taiwanese chip ecosystem. Exclusive orders for Nvidia’s high-end chips have flowed downstream to firms like Foxconn, a server assembly company, and ASE and SPIL, both in chip packaging. Once best known for assembling Apple iPhones, Foxconn is now a cutting-edge AI server company, and ASE has become the world’s top advanced packaging provider. Analysts note that the Taiwanese roots of both Nvidia and AMD’s CEOs have contributed to this momentum.

C.C. Wei, CEO of TSMC, left, and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, pose for photos at TSMC’s annual sports day in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Nov. 8. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Japan is also moving aggressively. In 2022, the Japanese government rallied eight major firms including Toyota, Kioxia and Sony to establish Rapidus, a foundry-focused company. The goal: to achieve technological independence in chipmaking at the 2-nanometer level or smaller. Tokyo has committed massive subsidies totaling 2.9 trillion yen ($18.6 billion) to support the effort.

The rivalry between Japan and Taiwan has grown so intense that it has sparked disputes over alleged technology leaks. Prosecutors in Taiwan recently indicted the Taiwanese subsidiary of Tokyo Electron, accusing it of leaking TSMC’s 2-nanometer technology to Japan. In August, three former and current TSMC employees were charged with stealing proprietary technology after joining Tokyo Electron — technology that was allegedly funneled to Rapidus. The Japanese firm supplies equipment to Rapidus, whose current chair previously headed Tokyo Electron, raising further suspicion. TSMC’s close relationship with Japan, including a government-backed factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, has been shaken.

Korea is also fighting to survive. Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics hired Margaret Han — a veteran of TSMC, Intel and NXP Semiconductors — as head of its North American foundry operations, valuing her extensive global connections in securing major clients.

The Samsung Electronics logo [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The SK hynix logo [REUTERS/YONHAP]

On Wednesday, the Lee Jae Myung administration announced a multipronged semiconductor strategy aimed at restoring Korea’s lead. It includes a 4.5 trillion won ($3 billion) investment in a 12-inch 40-nanometer foundry for shared industry use, 360.6 billion won for advanced packaging technology and a 700 trillion won commitment to semiconductor cluster construction.

“The reversal of fortunes among Korea, Japan and Taiwan is staggering,” said Lee Jong-hwan, a professor of system semiconductor engineering at Sangmyung University. “In the 1990s, Korea used to bring in retired executives from Toshiba and Hitachi as advisers. Then Korea surged ahead. Now Taiwan has overtaken us.”

Shin Hyun-chol, a professor at Kwangwoon University, warned that Korea must remain alert. “Japan may look like it's behind now, but it would be a mistake to underestimate it,” Shin said. “Its strengths in materials and components are unmatched, and with full government support, it could leapfrog Korea in no time. Korea urgently needs to ease industrial regulations and provide more strategic support to attract global companies.”

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 YI WOO-LIM [[email protected]]