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The rapid growth of Chinese semiconductor companies was driven by the practice of poaching domestic talent by offering high salaries and benefits. Over the past decade, dozens of former employees from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have moved to China's largest DRAM manufacturer.

Reporter Choi Seung-hoon investigated the bitter reality of this brain drain.

Reporter

"Your salary will double," "We will also support housing and children's education." These are the recruitment offers sent by Chinese headhunters to South Korean semiconductor personnel.

An analysis of career records disclosed on the global job platform LinkedIn revealed that over the past decade, at least 27 semiconductor professionals who left Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have joined China's Changxin Memory (CXMT).

The average tenure at Samsung and Hynix exceeds 15 years, and six of them are veterans with over 20 years of experience.

Their areas of expertise span virtually every stage of DRAM development and mass production, including circuit design, process integration, yield and defect analysis, equipment, and packaging.

Notably, 12 new employees joined CXMT in 2018 and 2019 alone, when the company was expanding its mass production capabilities.

On-site, they were responsible for circuit design, yield analysis, and the construction of new lines, as well as training Chinese engineers.

[Jang Hang-bae / Professor, Department of Industrial Security, Chung-Ang University: Given that dealing with tacit technology takes a long time and incurs high costs, this provides an opportunity to quickly catch up on technology.]

However, the average tenure at CXMT is less than three years, and it appears that 26 out of the 27 employees listed in their public profiles have already left the company.

This is being interpreted as a typical "using and discarding" strategy, where know-how is quickly absorbed and then cast aside.

Established in 2016, CXMT is rapidly expanding its size, recording the world's fourth-largest DRAM market share in the second quarter of this year.

The government maintains that while it detects illegal technology leaks, tracking and restricting simple overseas transfers raises concerns about infringing upon fundamental rights.

For this reason, it relies solely on autonomous management by companies, such as non-compete agreements that restrict employees from moving to competitors for a certain period after retirement.

[Choi Su-jin / Member of the National Assembly Trade, Industry and Energy Committee (People Power Party): We cannot simply leave this up to the companies alone. There is a limit to how long we can protect them based on patriotism or a sense of duty to the company.]

Experts point out that incentives, such as compensation, re-employment support, and assistance for utilizing research, are necessary to ensure key personnel continue to work domestically.

(Video Reporting: Lee Mu-jin, Video Editing: Jeon Min-kyu, Design: Kim Ye-ji, Yang Ki-tae, Data Provided by: Office of Rep. Choi Su-jin)

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