Taiwan's semiconductor talent shortage reaches 34,000 in May

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Taiwan's semiconductor industry faced a labor shortage of 34,000 workers as of May this year, according to a report released Monday by the 104 job bank and the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

The shortages came on the back of the industry's continued expansion, fueled by increased investment in advanced processes, the 2025 Semiconductor Industry Talent Report said.

The three main job categories in demand were "production/quality control/environmental safety," "research and development," and "operations/technical support and maintenance," it said.

Job openings for production, quality and environmental safety grew from 5,600 in October 2023 to roughly 10,000 in May 2025, while demand in the research and development category rose from 6,000 in 2023 to 9,316 in May this year, the report said.

Furthermore, the number of job openings in the operations/technical support and maintenance category grew from 4,300 in October 2023 to 7,240 in May 2025 -- an increase of 67 percent.

This reflects rising demand for equipment operators and maintenance personnel driven by the expansion of advanced processes and advanced packaging production lines, it said.

Taiwan alone accounted for 68.8 percent of the world's foundry market in 2024, and also led the world in IC packaging and testing with nearly 50 percent of the market, according to Jeff Lin (林昭憲), general director of ITRI's Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center.

The country is also a key production base for chips at 7 nanometers and below, and produces as much as 83 percent of the world's AI chips, Lin added.

From 2010-2024, the output value of the IC industry tripled, while the number of newborns in Taiwan has declined by about 20 percent, highlighting concerns over a potential talent gap as the high-tech sector continues to grow rapidly, he explained.

Recruiting of talent in the field of operations/technical support and maintenance has been especially difficult because this requires people to work shifts, the report said, adding that there is also an emphasis on hands-on and on-site skills.

Meanwhile, the report provided an analysis of the sector's salary structure, showing that among non-managerial positions, analog IC design engineers had the highest median annual salary at NT$1.78 million (US$60,320), followed by digital IC design engineers at NT$1.57 million, it said.