Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s No. 1 foundry (semiconductor consignment production), is also reported to be suffering from a shortage of semiconductor technology manpower. It is predicted that competition to attract semiconductor manpower will intensify among Taiwan, Korea, the United States, and China.
According to the semiconductor industry on the 5th, the Taiwanese government is pushing for measures to encourage the hiring of foreign technical personnel and immigration. This is an emergency response level to secure semiconductor technology manpower.
Taiwan is home to regarding 60% of the world’s semiconductor production. It is reported that the semiconductor industry is also experiencing difficulties due to a shortage of relevant manpower despite the rapid increase in demand for semiconductors. The number of semiconductor-related majors has decreased compared to the previous year, and the outflow of manpower to other countries is considered a major factor. According to Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, as of December of last year, the shortage of semiconductor manpower in Taiwan was regarding 34,000. This is a 77% increase from two years ago.
An official from the semiconductor industry said, “We are seriously seeing that TSMC, the strongest foundry in the industry, and its small and medium-sized partners are also struggling with a manpower shortage. There is also a forecast that the US and China will start attracting semiconductor technology manpower from Korea and Taiwan in earnest this year.
It is known that the Taiwanese government is planning to take care of related issues by making securing semiconductor technology manpower its top priority. In May of last year, Taiwan passed a law encouraging education in high-tech fields such as semiconductors. In addition, this year, the number of semiconductor-related departments increased by 10%. The goal is to lay the foundation for the next 10 years of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry through industry-university cooperation.
China recently opened a semiconductor college at Tsinghua University. The China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) predicted that there will be a shortage of 200,000 semiconductor specialists in China alone by next year.
Taiwan has also strengthened measures to prevent the transfer of semiconductor technology personnel to other countries. In December 2020, a task force (TF) was set up in the Investigation Bureau of the Justice Bureau with the goal of preventing the hijacking of human resources by China. Recently, it launched an investigation into 100 Chinese companies. This is due to suspicions that China is illegally scouting a large number of technical personnel, including semiconductor engineers.
The Taiwanese government has also proposed a law to apply the National Security Act to leaks of key semiconductor technologies.
Reporter Jung Ji-eun jeong@hankyung.com
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