Demand for IC talent trends upward in 2024

Demand for talent in the integrated circuits sector is expected to pick up this year, as the downstream electronics sectors regain momentum after a sluggish period and the emerging automotive chips industry brings new blood into the market, experts said.

Over 1,365 new positions nationwide have been released on recruiter liepin.com during its latest IC recruitment project, right after its recent online IC job fair held in December, offering over 1,300 positions and involving a slew of IC companies such as Tongxin Micro, Dosilicon Co Ltd and Chipone Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd.

From the distribution of new positions in Beijing during the first week after this year's Spring Festival, the IC industry ranked third with a talent demand share of 4.53 percent. The internet industry took the top spot at 15.56 percent, while the computer software industry ranked second with a share of 5.98 percent, according to data from the recruiter.

With an average annual salary of over 300,000 yuan ($41,800), the positions cover a wide range of IC subsectors such as chip design, verification, packaging, sales and computer-aided design engineering, according to the recruiter.

The upward trend in IC talent demand mirrors a gradual recovery of the downstream market.

"As the semiconductor market gradually warms up and domestic chipmakers expand production, large-scale recruitment of recent graduates should fare better than last year," said Roger Sheng, vice-president analyst at US market research company Gartner Inc.

"We project that the shipment volume of consumer electronics products would have picked up by the end of 2023," said Wang Shaonan, an electronics industry analyst at Minmetals Securities, during a previous interview.

The construction of computing power centers across China and the wide adoption of generative AI will also help drive demand for IC products, Wang said.

Due to a gradual rebound in demand for terminals, semiconductor sales are projected to grow by 20 percent this year, according to a report by global market research company International Data Corp.

Factors such as the unmet demand for AI-powered chips, a near completion of the chip destocking process, and the growing trend of intelligent and electric vehicles are expected to be major drivers for the semiconductor market in future, IDC said.

The prevailing trend toward smart and electrified transformation of automobiles merits special attention, as it will represent a "long-term and robust" demand for the semiconductor market, IDC added.

According to electronic components distributor DRex Electronics, an average modern car has between 1,400 and 1,500 semiconductor chips, with some even having as many as 3,000.

Chips used for advanced driver assistance systems and infotainment — a portmanteau word for information and entertainment — are the two major drivers for auto chip consumption, projected by IDC to account for 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of all auto chips by 2027.

By 2030, China's share in the automotive chip industry will reach 30 percent of the global market, with an estimated size of $290 billion, said Chinese semiconductor market research company JW Insights.

"There is currently a significant talent gap in China's automotive chip industry," said Xiong Xiaoming, head of the school of integrated circuits at Guangdong University of Technology.

Xiong said the automotive chip industry needs not only those with knowledge of integrated circuit design and manufacturing, but also those with a comprehensive understanding of the automotive sector.

"Personally, I feel there are certain differences in what I've been taught in university and the actual requirements of enterprises, and the overall job demand in the industry varies greatly with changes in the macro-economic situation," said a student surnamed Yu, who recently graduated from the School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering at Beihang University.