Demand for IC talent trends upward in 2024

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.

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."