"No Major Needed": Semiconductor Plants Expand Hiring... Taiwan Job Market in Turmoil Amid Unprecedented Talent Drought [Taiwan Chip News]

'104 Job Bank' Releases 2026 Report
Analog IC Design Tops Median Salary Rankings
'Major-Irrelevant' Hiring Expands to Include Non-STEM Talent

Taiwan, known as the “heart” of the global semiconductor industry, is experiencing an unprecedented talent shortage. The worldwide artificial intelligence (AI) boom has pushed the operational rates of semiconductor fabs (manufacturing plants) to their limits, intensifying recruitment challenges not just for technicians needed to operate factories, but also for specialists who draw up blueprints and for experienced veterans to oversee overseas plants.

According to the 104 Job Bank, Taiwan’s leading job search platform, as reported by Taiwan Economic Daily News on September 14, the monthly average number of job openings in Taiwan’s semiconductor sector has surged to 47,000 this year, marking a more than 20% jump compared to the previous year. Notably, as of June, the average monthly number of AI-related positions in the semiconductor sector reached 10,765, marking an all-time high for the period. This figure has soared by 67% compared to 6,437 in 2022, just five years ago.

Competition for talent in construction and drafting positions—which are responsible for building semiconductor plants and drawing up engineering plans—has become so fierce that there are 12.5 jobs available for every jobseeker, underscoring the heated race for manpower on the ground.

Local media highlight, “With continued AI investment driving up semiconductor production capacity, the talent shortage is deepening across all areas—from basic production workers to equipment construction, quality management, and even overseas assignments.”

Faced with these extreme hiring difficulties, local companies are lowering recruitment barriers regardless of applicants’ majors. For production, manufacturing, quality control, and environmental safety positions, the proportion of “no major required” hiring has risen to 41%, and for research and development (R&D) positions as well, the figure has climbed to 26%. Especially for plant equipment operation, technology, and maintenance roles, companies are hiring without regard to majors in 60% of cases, actively absorbing talent from all backgrounds.

Media reports explain, “In order to overcome the talent shortage, companies are breaking away from the traditional focus on science and engineering majors. They are widening their recruitment pool to actively attract non-STEM candidates and those with humanities degrees who possess learning potential and multidisciplinary thinking.”

As the competition to secure talent across the semiconductor industry heats up, engineers’ compensation is also climbing rapidly. Among general engineering jobs, analog integrated circuit (IC) engineers—who design communication and sensor chips—ranked first in median annual salary at 1.72 million Taiwan dollars (about 72 million won). They were followed by digital IC design engineers (1.59 million Taiwan dollars), algorithm engineers overseeing core logical structures (1.41 million Taiwan dollars), and firmware engineers (1.36 million Taiwan dollars).

Algorithm engineers recorded the sharpest pay increase, with a 15.7% rise in annual salary, outpacing all other job categories. The rarity of these roles has only grown as the AI application market—such as smart factories—expands rapidly. In management positions, hardware engineering managers topped the list with a median annual salary of 1.83 million Taiwan dollars.

The Taiwan Economic Daily News analyzed, “As the value of specialized R&D and design talent in the semiconductor industry soars, engineers’ pay is now clearly surpassing that of general management roles. With the global semiconductor supply unable to keep up with demand, the battle to secure semiconductor talent is emerging as a key factor that could determine future market dominance.”

Taiwan Economic Daily News = Reported by Hong Anyi and Peng Huiming / Translated by The Asia Business Daily

*This article is published as part of a strategic partnership between The Asia Business Daily and Taiwan Economic Daily News.

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