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200+ Samsung engineers defected to SK Hynix in four months, and 81.5% of the foundry division wants out
MIT Technology Review reports 200+ Samsung employees left for SK Hynix over a four-month window, with internal survey data showing 81.5% of foundry division staff and nearly 50% of the broader semiconductor division intending to leave within two years. The proximate cause is a bonus structure tied to division P&L: SK Hynix paid roughly $476,000 per employee, Samsung's memory division ~$400,000, and Samsung's loss-making foundry division only ~$135,000. This matters for AI supply because Samsung is the only memory maker that also owns a foundry — losing those engineers threatens its ability to fabricate HBM4's logic die in-house, handing HBM-leading SK Hynix a structural edge in next-gen accelerator memory.
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