“Told to Apply as a New Graduate Without Experience”…Samsung Employees Frustrated as Path to SK hynix Is Blocked

Non-Compete Injunction Hinders Career Moves for Design Staff

Internal Transfers Cut Off, Non-Memory Unit Faces Surging Discontent

"You applied as an experienced professional, right? I'm sorry, but we can't accept you. If you still want to join, please reapply as a new employee."

Recently, there have been rumors among semiconductor design staff at the Device Solutions (DS) division of Samsung Electronics that applicants to SK hynix's experienced hires received such a response. Although it is close to hearsay, there are even self-deprecating remarks such as, "I'd rather give up my career and join as a new employee." After a recent court ruling effectively shut down moves to competitors, this reflects growing dissatisfaction among non-memory division staff who feel relatively disadvantaged due to performance bonus disparities.

Yonhap News Agency

Samsung Headquarters. Photo by The Asia Business Daily.

This controversy began with a court ruling regarding personnel who had been responsible for core NAND flash design at Samsung Electronics’ memory business division for more than 10 years. They left the company in October last year and joined SK hynix in February this year. Last month, the Suwon District Court’s 31st Civil Division (Presiding Judge Shin Woo-jung) partially accepted Samsung Electronics’ request for an injunction prohibiting former employees from working for a competitor.

The court ruled that these individuals must not take employment or provide work to SK hynix or its affiliates until April 30, 2027, which is one year and six months after their resignation. The court acknowledged that NAND flash design is considered a national core technology and that Samsung Electronics had managed these individuals as core personnel.

After the ruling, it was predicted that moves to competitors would be blocked, especially for key design positions—now this is becoming reality. An employee from Samsung Electronics' DS division stated, "Some employees outside of design positions have successfully changed jobs, but for design personnel, restrictions on job changes have led to significant dissatisfaction."

Uncertainty even about internal transfers is further adding to employee frustration. Job postings (the company’s internal job transfer system) for moving from non-memory divisions such as System LSI or Foundry to the memory division within the DS business unit have been completely suspended since the first half of last year. At that time, differences in performance bonuses—between Over-Performance Incentives (OPI) and the Target Achievement Incentive (TAI)—caused a mass movement of non-memory staff into the memory division. However, with the introduction of new special management bonuses, the compensation gap between divisions has widened even further. The company is believed to have shut the door on internal applications out of concern that resuming large-scale job postings would result in a mass departure of key non-memory personnel.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.