Samsung’s chip workers are jumping ship to rival SK Hynix
2026-08-20 · MIT Technology Review
Samsung Chip Engineers Are Jumping Ship to Competitor SK Hynix
The Allure of Massive Bonuses
Lee, an engineer at Samsung’s semiconductor division, now clocks out on time. He used to work extra hours to excel. Lately, he heads home to polish his job application for SK Hynix and shares tips with colleagues on writing strong personal statements. Surprisingly, even his boss encourages the move.
“My team lead tells us all to jump ship to SK Hynix,” Lee says. He and his coworkers are demoralized by the $476,000 bonus SK Hynix is paying employees, thanks to record profits from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that power Nvidia’s AI accelerators. The sum far exceeds what Samsung chip workers receive and is triggering a significant exodus.
Diverging Bonus Structures
After lengthy union negotiations, Samsung agreed in May to pay 10.5% of its semiconductor division’s operating profits as bonuses for 10 years, mostly in company stock that vests over three years. SK Hynix, by contrast, committed last year to distributing 10% of operating profits, resulting in roughly $476,000 per employee this year—mostly paid in cash.
Crucially, Samsung ties bonuses to each division’s performance:
- Memory division (also benefiting from HBM): approximately $400,000 per employee.
- Foundry division (currently operating at a loss): roughly $135,000 per employee.
Employees say Samsung has stated it cannot give large bonuses to underperforming divisions. Lee, disappointed after months of union negotiations, feels future profits may not reach him.
Entire Teams Applying to Rival
Lee reports that, except for two team leads, his entire 30-person team applied to a July SK Hynix job posting. Lee (three years at Samsung) and a colleague (eight years experience) both applied for entry-level positions and were initially rejected. They remain hopeful for callbacks on postings seeking more experienced engineers.
All Samsung and SK Hynix employees interviewed by MIT Technology Review requested to be identified only by last name or pseudonym due to fear of retaliation. Samsung declined to comment; SK Hynix did not respond to requests for comment.
Survey Reveals High Turnover Intent
A June survey by the Samsung labor union found:
- 81.5% of employees in the foundry division want to leave within two years.
- Nearly half of employees across the entire semiconductor division feel the same.
In April, union chief Choi Seung-ho said more than 200 union members had left for SK Hynix in the previous four months. On the anonymous forum Blind, numerous Samsung engineers voice their desire to defect for larger bonuses.
SK Hynix’s Strategic Bet on HBM
For decades SK Hynix lived in Samsung’s shadow as the smaller memory maker. In 2019, Samsung downsized its HBM team, expecting the market to remain niche, while SK Hynix doubled down on the technology.
The AI boom dramatically increased demand for HBM chips, which feed AI accelerators enormous amounts of data at ultra-high speeds. SK Hynix now leads the global HBM market; Samsung is playing catch-up. Both companies exceeded $1 trillion in market value in May, and SK Hynix briefly became South Korea’s most valuable company in June.
Massive Investments and Talent Shortage
Anticipating sustained demand, both companies plan to invest more than $2 trillion by 2040, including a semiconductor “mega-cluster” in Yongin.
To staff the expansion:
- SK Hynix added 2,152 employees in the first half of 2026 alone and aims to double manufacturing capacity within five years.
- Samsung plans to hire 60,000 employees over the next five years, with heavy focus on its semiconductor division.
Despite these plans, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association forecasts the industry will need about 304,000 workers by 2031 and will face a shortage of roughly 54,000.
Talent War Escalates to Courtroom
The rivals are now using large bonuses to retain and poach talent. A SK Hynix manager named Baek says the company appears to specifically target Samsung engineers. “From what I heard internally, the big performance bonuses we got were aimed at luring away talent from our competitor.”
Courts have begun intervening. In July, Samsung won an 18-month injunction barring two former chip workers from joining SK Hynix, arguing that semiconductors are a national core technology. The court ruled that “with competition in the semiconductor industry fierce, it’s necessary to establish a fair market order.”
Samsung retains one key advantage in the HBM race: it is the only memory maker that also operates a foundry business, as noted by semiconductor expert Park Jun-young.