{"slug": "sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown", "title": "SK hynix adds more than 2,000 positions amid job market slowdown", "summary": "SK hynix added 2,159 employees in 2025, reaching 34,549 total, driven by AI chip demand, while Samsung's chip division saw a slight decline. The hiring contrasts with South Korea's overall job market slowdown, which lost 40,000 jobs in May, highlighting a K-shaped disparity favoring the semiconductor sector.", "body_md": "SK hynix Inc. added more than 2,000 positions last year amid the global artificial intelligence boom, which has led to a sharp rise in demand for memory chips, industry sources said Sunday.\n\nThe hiring is noteworthy as it comes amid the overall slowdown in the country's job market.\n\nAccording to the sources, the number of employees at SK hynix came to 34,549 as of the end of 2025, up 2,159 from a year earlier.\n\nOver the same period, the number of employees at Samsung Electronics Co.'s device solutions division, which covers its chip business, came to 78,064, slightly down from 78,699.\n\nThe total chip-related workforce at the two tech giants stood at 112,613 as of the end of last year, up 1,554 from a year earlier.\n\nThe overall increase came amid an unprecedented boom in demand for AI infrastructure, with the semiconductor industry anticipating continued growth in employment at major chipmakers.\n\nIndustry watchers, however, expressed concern over an uneven \"K-shaped\" disparity in the job market, in which only a limited number of industries are experiencing employment growth.\n\nIn May, South Korea lost 40,000 jobs from a year earlier, marking the first decline in 17 months as the impact of the prolonged Middle East war weighed on the manufacturing sector.\n\n\"Currently, South Korean industries are in a slump, with the exception of a few sectors, such as semiconductors,\" said Yang Jun-sok, a professor of economics at the Catholic University of Korea.\n\n\"The disparity in manufacturing employment will worsen further as automation accelerates following the adoption of robots,\" he added, noting the country needs improved labor market flexibility through structural reform. (Yonhap)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown", "canonical_source": "https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10771107", "published_at": "2026-06-14 00:29:38+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-14 00:40:15.173973+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["SK hynix", "Samsung Electronics", "Yang Jun-sok", "Catholic University of Korea"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sk-hynix-adds-more-than-2000-positions-amid-job-market-slowdown.jsonld"}}