Domestic industry currently faces shortage of experienced technical workers, especially seasoned midlevel chip engineers
Visitors check out semiconductor products at Chipone Technology's booth during an expo in Shanghai in August 2023. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Demand for talent in the integrated circuits sector is expected to pick up this year, as the downstream electronics sectors regain momentum after a sluggish period and the emerging automotive chips industry brings new blood into the market, experts said.
Over 1,365 new positions nationwide have been released on recruiter liepin.com during its latest IC recruitment project, right after its recent online IC job fair held in December, offering over 1,300 positions and involving a slew of IC companies such as Tongxin Micro, Dosilicon Co Ltd and Chipone Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd.
From the distribution of new positions in Beijing during the first week after this year's Spring Festival, the IC industry ranked third with a talent demand share of 4.53 percent. The internet industry took the top spot at 15.56 percent, while the computer software industry ranked second with a share of 5.98 percent, according to data from the recruiter.
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With an average annual salary of over 300,000 yuan ($41,800), the positions cover a wide range of IC subsectors such as chip design, verification, packaging, sales and computer-aided design engineering, according to the recruiter.
The upward trend in IC talent demand mirrors a gradual recovery of the downstream market.
"As the semiconductor market gradually warms up and domestic chipmakers expand production, large-scale recruitment of recent graduates should fare better than last year," said Roger Sheng, vice-president analyst at US market research company Gartner Inc.
"We project that the shipment volume of consumer electronics products would have picked up by the end of 2023," said Wang Shaonan, an electronics industry analyst at Minmetals Securities, during a previous interview.
The construction of computing power centers across China and the wide adoption of generative AI will also help drive demand for IC products, Wang said.
Due to a gradual rebound in demand for terminals, semiconductor sales are projected to grow by 20 percent this year, according to a report by global market research company International Data Corp.
Factors such as the unmet demand for AI-powered chips, a near completion of the chip destocking process, and the growing trend of intelligent and electric vehicles are expected to be major drivers for the semiconductor market in future, IDC said.
The prevailing trend toward smart and electrified transformation of automobiles merits special attention, as it will represent a "long-term and robust" demand for the semiconductor market, IDC added.
According to electronic components distributor DRex Electronics, an average modern car has between 1,400 and 1,500 semiconductor chips, with some even having as many as 3,000.
Chips used for advanced driver assistance systems and infotainment — a portmanteau word for information and entertainment — are the two major drivers for auto chip consumption, projected by IDC to account for 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of all auto chips by 2027.
By 2030, China's share in the automotive chip industry will reach 30 percent of the global market, with an estimated size of $290 billion, said Chinese semiconductor market research company JW Insights.
"There is currently a significant talent gap in China's automotive chip industry," said Xiong Xiaoming, head of the school of integrated circuits at Guangdong University of Technology.
Xiong said the automotive chip industry needs not only those with knowledge of integrated circuit design and manufacturing, but also those with a comprehensive understanding of the automotive sector.
"Personally, I feel there are certain differences in what I've been taught in university and the actual requirements of enterprises, and the overall job demand in the industry varies greatly with changes in the macro-economic situation," said a student surnamed Yu, who recently graduated from the School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering at Beihang University.
Dosilicon's chip products are displayed at an electronics expo in Shanghai in July 2023. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Top-notch talent
To develop new quality productive forces, China needs top-notch talent in not only basic, interdisciplinary and emerging disciplines, which can drive innovation at the source, but also engineering and technical talent who serve the new path of industrialization, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng said.
"We are currently at a critical period when the demographic dividend is accelerating toward the development of high-quality talent," Huai said at a news conference during this year's two sessions, or the annual gatherings of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
There is great demand for IC specialists in the domestic market.
The actual talent demand at IC enterprises in 2022 was about 199,300, with a supply of 164,300, leaving a significant gap of around 35,000 professionals, according to a report copublished by Beyond Consulting and tech company Arm China in July.
The challenges in recruitment, however, stem from matching work experiences and different segments of the industry chain with suitable positions.
In 2022, the number of submitted resumes in the domestic IC talent market reached 164,300, among whom 47,300 were recent graduates, accounting for 28.79 percent, up from the 25.76 percent level in 2020, said the Beyond Consulting report.
Concerns about an oversupply risk of fresh graduates have arisen as demand for talent with less than one year's experience has declined and applicants who have recently graduated keep increasing, the report said.
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Unlike the internet industry, the IC sector places a greater emphasis on technological expertise and experience, and this is the reason why a majority of layoffs in IC enterprises have targeted recently onboarded young talent, said talent solution provider Career International in a recent report.
This suggests that positions suitable for inexperienced talent, including recent graduates, are likely to decrease further.
Furthermore, as the capital bubble begins to burst in chip design companies, coupled with a wave of new construction and expansion of production lines in manufacturing firms, it is expected to see a reduction of personnel in the design field and a shortage of talent in manufacturing, testing and packaging fields in the near future, according to the Beyond Consulting report.
However, chip design remains a preferred employment area for graduates, with over 70 percent of 2024 IC-related graduates hoping to enter the design field, according to a recent report by JW Insights.
"The supply of talent in the design field is approaching saturation, and the mobility of such talent may, therefore, slow down in the future. On the other hand, the talent gap in manufacturing and equipment sectors remains substantial, especially for experienced engineers in these domains," Sheng of Gartner said.
The domestic IC industry currently faces a shortage of experienced technical talent, with a dearth of seasoned chip engineers that have 7-8 years or more of work experience, the Career International report added.
"The long-term development of the IC industry hinges on the optimization of talent structures and the establishment and management of high-level talent," Sheng said. "Consistent efforts in cultivating talent pipelines and retaining experienced core professionals are particularly crucial for Chinese semiconductor enterprises to keep pace with their global counterparts."
