Apple Car Head Also Left... Fierce Talent Competition in Big Tech [Im Juhyung's Tech Talk]

Apple Faces Continuous Talent Drain in Core Projects
Intense Talent Competition in AI, Metaverse, and Semiconductor Fields
Industry Landscape Shifts to Knowledge-Centered from Manufacturing
Securing Engineer Workforce Key to Future Competitiveness

Apple headquarters campus in California, USA / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Apple, one of the world's largest tech companies, is facing difficulties with its ambitious 'Apple Car' project due to a series of talent drain issues. This is because global big tech companies are fiercely competing for talent amid the next dominance in the technology industry. Important products that will determine the direction of future IT technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), metaverse, and next-generation semiconductors are pouring out, and finding engineers to develop them is becoming increasingly difficult.

◆Apple Struggles with 'Talent Drain' in Core Projects

According to Apple-related information aggregation website 'AppleInsider' on the 24th (local time), Joe Bass, who was in charge of autonomous driving system engineering for the Apple Car project, recently left Apple and moved to Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

Bass had worked as an engineer at Apple for seven years since 2015, researching autonomous driving systems. It was a core technology of the Apple Car project, which is expected to be Apple's most important product after the iPhone. However, recently Bass changed his profile on the U.S. job platform LinkedIn. He is now working as the program manager for Meta's mixed reality technology, not in autonomous driving engineering.

This is not the first time Apple has faced setbacks in important projects due to talent drain. According to AppleInsider on the 6th, a key developer working on Apple Silicon recently moved to another U.S. semiconductor company, Intel.

Apple Silicon is the core division that designs the 'M1' microprocessor used in various Apple electronic products. The photo shows Apple's laptop computer chip, the M1 Max. / Photo by Apple

Apple Silicon is the department that develops system-on-chip (SoC), the 'brain' of Apple electronic devices such as iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. The 'M1' and 'M1 Max', which gained attention for their outstanding performance that outshines competing products, were also developed here. Since core personnel from Apple's most important department have moved to competitors, it shows that the current talent drain Apple is experiencing is quite serious.

◆Fierce Talent Competition Over Next-Generation Technologies Like AI, Metaverse, and Semiconductors

In addition, big tech companies are currently engaged in fierce talent competition. The most competitive field is semiconductor design. The more complex the microprocessor, the more massive research and development (R&D) efforts are essential to enhance product competitiveness, and bringing the best talent to lead R&D projects is a matter of life and death for semiconductor companies.

For example, Qualcomm, another company that makes smartphone SoCs, acquired 'Nuvia' for $1.4 billion (about 1.68 trillion KRW) early last year. Nuvia is a semiconductor design startup founded by some former Apple Silicon developers, with about 100 employees. However, Qualcomm saw enormous potential worth over 1 trillion KRW in the elite engineers from Apple Silicon.

Intense talent competition is unfolding among companies vying for the leading position in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including artificial intelligence, next-generation semiconductors, and the metaverse. / Photo by Yonhap News

The big tech talent competition is not only happening within the U.S. but also spilling over into international conflicts. Memory semiconductor company Micron announced on the 26th that it will shut down its DRAM semiconductor design department established in Shanghai, China, within this year. This is due to concerns that important strategic assets such as semiconductor intellectual property (IP) and engineers could be leaked to China.

The reason why talent competition is particularly fierce in the tech field is that the industry itself is shifting its focus from traditional manufacturing to 'knowledge industries.' Currently, the most important areas in the tech industry?AI, augmented reality/virtual reality metaverse, and next-generation semiconductor design?are mostly in the form of software or IP. They require teams of engineers with highly specialized expertise.

Also, these products have been developed relatively recently. This means there is an absolute shortage of veteran engineers with industry experience. To suppress other potential competitors and lead the industry first, companies must aggressively secure outstanding talent.

◆Domestic Shortage of 4th Industrial Revolution Talent... "Systematic Talent Development Plans Needed"

Some domestic companies have also joined the AI talent competition. One of the most active companies in securing AI talent, 'Naver,' operates a system called 'Naver Scholar,' which recruits researchers and professors with high reputations in the AI field to promote related research.

A citizen is looking at job information at a Seoul Job Center. / Photo by Yonhap News

Kakao has also been actively supporting and discovering AI talent through its 'Kakao i Research Program' since 2017.

Experts predict that the shortage of talent will continue to deepen both domestically and internationally.

The Korea Software Policy Research Institute (SPRi) estimated that from 2021 to 2025, the demand for new software industry personnel in Korea alone will reach 353,000. Among them, the number of developers trained domestically through formal education and government projects is 324,000, indicating a shortage of about 30,000 personnel.

In particular, the shortage of high-level talent in core industries of the 4th Industrial Revolution such as AI, big data, cloud, and augmented/virtual reality is expected to reach about 19,000, which is considered quite serious.

Regarding this, SPRi suggested, "Continuous promotion of software education and talent development is necessary, and various alternative talent development plans should be prepared to close the supply-demand gap. To minimize mismatches of high-level talent, consideration of establishing specialized graduate schools is also needed at this point."