Structural Shifts and Pathways to Breakthrough in the Semiconductor Talent Market

From “leading on the manufacturing side” to “lying low on the design side”

Structural Shifts in the Semiconductor Talent Market and Strategies for Breaking the Impasse

In 2025, China’s semiconductor industry continues to expand, driven by both policy support and market demand. However, the growth in industry scale has not been matched by a corresponding increase in talent demand across all segments, resulting in a distinct landscape where manufacturing leads the charge, the market seeks breakthroughs, and design remains relatively subdued. This structural divergence is profoundly reshaping the competitive dynamics of the semiconductor talent market, while also presenting new challenges and opportunities for corporate recruitment strategies.

Leading the charge on the manufacturing front

“Talent Shortage” Amid Capacity Expansion

The manufacturing sector currently accounts for the vast majority of talent demand. As domestic wafer fabs continue to expand capacity, demand for roles in process engineering, equipment maintenance, and production technology is surging. Process engineers—specializing in areas such as etch, CVD, PVD, and CMP—are among the hardest positions to fill, as they are typically recruited from leading‑edge fabs and require an exceptionally deep understanding of process windows. Similarly, equipment engineers face a severe supply‑demand imbalance, owing to long training cycles and heavy reliance on external suppliers.

Meanwhile, the share of job postings for equipment R&D has risen from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2025, underscoring the urgent need to localize semiconductor equipment.

“Lurking” on the design side

The threshold has risen sharply, but the value of top talent has never been diminished.

In stark contrast to the booming activity on the manufacturing side, the chip‑design sector has entered a period of dormancy. This does not reflect a decline in demand; rather, companies have fundamentally shifted their hiring strategies, with hiring thresholds rising sharply. The days when “a basic grasp of Verilog” sufficed are over—today, candidates are typically expected to hold a 985/211 degree, have at least five years of experience, and boast successful tape‑out track records, while pathways for career switches into IC design from other fields have narrowed considerably.

However, the market value of top-tier talent with genuine architectural expertise and tape-out experience has never been diminished. It’s just that companies have become more “discriminating”: the positions remain, but the pool of candidates who can actually step into them has noticeably shrunk.

Closed beta client

Traditional saturation coexists with advanced scarcity.

The talent gap in the packaging and testing segment should not be overlooked. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by 2025, the semiconductor packaging and testing sector will face a shortage of as many as 400,000 professionals. With the emergence of advanced packaging technologies such as 3D stacking and chiplets, the demand for experts in cutting-edge packaging processes is growing ever more urgent. However, in terms of compensation, the packaging and testing segment remains at the lower end of the industry value chain, characterized by “stability but with a relatively modest upper limit.”