The global semiconductor market continues to grow rapidly, driving the demand for professional engineering talents. According to data from the Institute of Technology and Human Resources Bank, the gap in Taiwan's engineers in 2024 has reached 34,000, an increase of more than 50% from five years ago. This gap covers all links such as process, equipment, design, and sealing, and is not a single shortage. Industry predicts that 2027 will usher in the "golden crossover point" of semiconductor industry, that is, talent supply is fully behind demand, and the gap size may exceed 50,000 people at a time.
Three major reasons for the shortage of semiconductor population, resulting in a protruding effect of reversal
Regarding the situation of the increase in the talent gap in semiconductors in Taiwan, Ye Weijun, Asia Pacific Market Talent Recruitment Manager of ASML, an international semiconductor equipment manufacturer, said that there are three reasons. First, the industry has been expanded too quickly, especially the chain of Taiwan's wafer factory and equipment supply to expand simultaneously in response to the rapid development of the current market demand for AI and high-efficiency computing, resulting in a sharp increase in the demand for engineering manpower. In addition, Taiwan has been facing a problem of low birth rate, and the number of graduates in science and engineering has been declining year by year, and the talent replenishment speed has not increased to the growth of industry. Finally, there is an international competition, including the United States, Japan, South Korea and Europe-US chip policies to increase the attractiveness of talents, making the phenomenon of high-level talents exodus emerge.
Ye Weijun said that the Taiwan Semiconductor Association's statistics pointed out that the average academic gap period for new engineers has been extended to 1.5 years in the past three years, indicating that there is a demise between the current education system and industry demand. Some high-level jobs are lacking and even without a person for more than half a year. The "return effect" between enterprises is becoming more and more obvious. The same group of professional labor is moving in different enterprises, and there is no new talent supply. Against this background, ASML, a large Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer, has been turning vigorously to "cultivating and retaining talents." Since 2020, the number of ASML employees worldwide has grown by more than 60%, and Taiwan has expanded simultaneously. ASML Taiwan Management Level pointed out that the current market talent flow model has no way to support the long-term development of the industry. Only by establishing a stable and continuous talent cultivation pipeline can the structural gap be broken.
Ye Weijun pointed out that ASML uses the "international platform" as its core to attract talents and provide cross-border and expatriate opportunities, including the Netherlands, the United States, South Korea and other points. At the same time, the company strengthens talent retention with competitive compensation and benefits, including flexible working hours, flexible leave, employee assistance programs (EAPs), anniversary leave and other measures to create a friendly and attractive work environment.
With the accumulation of professional knowledge in semiconductor manufacturing, ASML layout staff has a soft and hard structure Among them, ASML not only strengthens its hard work (professional knowledge and technical skills), but also systematically develops the software capabilities of employees, including communication, leadership, decision-making, reporting and cross-cultural cooperation. The specially designed Take the Heat course is in line with communication between first-line engineers in the context of customer pressure, so that technical expertise can effectively convert customer needs and transmit them to overseas research and development and manufacturing teams. Taking 2024 as an example, ASML Taiwan employees will complete a 340,000-hour training time. The company's average annual training investment in each employee is about NT$30,000. The course is divided into selection and compulsory training, and is formulated for different vocations to ensure that the team is highly consistent in professional terms, communication mode and thinking.
According to Lin Fulun, vice chairman of the Taiwan Science and Technology Industry Association, the gap in semiconductor talent is no longer just a problem at the manufacturing side, and the full supply chains such as design, sealing, materials, and equipment are all slugging. With the rapid development of AI, electric vehicles and advanced processes, cross-border rushing will become a common practice. If an enterprise does not have a complete training and talent retention plan, it is likely to launch a bottleneck within three years. In addition, Zhang Huimin, director of the Industry Analysis and Research Center of the National University of Transportation, also pointed out that many companies currently only focus on the cultivation of hard work, but have failed to simultaneously improve employees' cross-cultural communication and market understanding. This is a major risk in the global supply chain. ASML will be very powerful and has a guiding role in enhancing international competition.
In fact, in the global semiconductor industry, different semiconductor manufacturers have their own strategic layout for talents. According to Taiwan Electronics, it is based on the title of "high-density local training". Through cooperation with various universities in Taiwan, talents are set in advance from the time of student life, and talents are retained with high salary and rapid promotion system. As for, Intel is a technology base focusing on the United States and Europe, and emphasizes the "Reskilling" plan, helping employees move from traditional processes to advanced processes and AI accelerators. Samsung Electronics, South Korea adopts the "group resource integration" strategy, combines the R&D power of consumer electronics and semiconductor departments, and provides cross-industry career movement opportunities.
The complete supply chain makes Taiwan a continuous influx of talents, and looks forward to cultivating important employees under the development of globalizationCompared with these semiconductor manufacturing factories, Taiwan's electricity weight depth and ASML weight density, Intel Re-transformation and Samsung reintegration, ASML takes global R&D collaboration network and cross-border adjustment systems as its core, strengthens employees' international adaptability and cross-cultural communication capabilities, and establishes long-term competitive advantages through high-proportion training and investment, which not only enables employees to work within the company's system. In addition to being able to carry out global adjustments and meet the cooperation between learning and colleagues in different cultures to establish a coordinated work goal, we will further attract and retain key talents in the environment of rapid iteration of global supply chains and technology, providing competitiveness for the company's market share and R&D speed.
Ye Weijun finally emphasized that even though Taiwan is under the influence of local politics, it is still the import center of global semiconductor keys.. The reason is that in Taiwan, there is a complete semiconductor supply chain, and enterprises that provide various products or solutions are developing rapidly here, which has also become the main reason for the rapid arrival of relevant talents in various countries. In particular, in recent years, semiconductor talents coming to Taiwan overseas have a trend of continuous growth, which also symbolizes that Taiwanese semiconductor talents will not be greatly leaked due to problems in geopolitical politics. ASML also enjoys finding talents from different places in Taiwan locally.