Ex-Samsung and SK Hynix Engineers Dumped After Chasing 'Lucrative Offers' to China

It has been revealed that 27 core semiconductor technology professionals, who worked an average of over 15 years at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, moved to the Chinese memory semiconductor company ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).

However, their average employment period at CXMT was merely 2.9 years, and it was confirmed that 26 out of the 27 individuals have already left the company.

According to a comprehensive investigation of LinkedIn and other sources by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Choi Soojin, the total combined work experience at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of the 27 individuals confirmed to have moved to CXMT amounts to 415.9 years, averaging 15.4 years per person.

The group included six chief-level and executive-level personnel who had led semiconductor mass production in the field for over 20 years.

Their roles varied across core fields essential for semiconductor production, including 8 in circuit design, 7 in process integration, and 4 each in unit processes/equipment and yield/defect analysis.

Recent investigations showed that the outflow to CXMT extended beyond general-purpose DRAM to include personnel specialized in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) design and advanced packaging.

During the transition process, circumstances suspected of indirect job-hopping to evade non-compete agreements were also captured; 15 of the 27 individuals joined CXMT after passing through equipment and materials partner companies, foreign firms, or university research professorships immediately following their departure from Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix.

The conditions offered by the Chinese side were also extraordinary.

Messages from Chinese headhunters secured by the lawmaker's office reportedly contained offers such as a compensation package 60% to up to twice as high as their previous salaries, 3 to 5 years of employment security, and support for rental housing and children's education expenses.

However, the average employment period of the 27 Korean engineers who moved to China under these conditions stopped at 2.9 years, and investigations showed that only a single person is confirmed to still remain at CXMT.

The office of lawmaker Choi Soojin analyzed that CXMT likely utilized the workforce by securing the technology and know-how of Korean engineers in a short period during the factory establishment and process stabilization phases, and then terminating their contracts.

Lawmaker Choi pointed out that semiconductor technology is built upon decades of human experience and know-how, emphasizing the need for a national-level management system to track the overseas movement of core talent, alongside compensation and re-employment measures that allow them to continue working domestically.

In response, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that there is no legal basis to crack down on or restrict legitimate overseas talent recruitment.

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Graphics by Yang Hyemin | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.