SK Hynix, the South Korean chip maker that has become one of Nvidia’s most important memory suppliers, is expanding its workforce while keeping employee departures close to zero, a sign of how the artificial intelligence boom is strengthening the company’s position in the global semiconductor labor market.
SK Hynix, South Korea’s second largest chip maker after Samsung Electronics, is a leading producer of high bandwidth memory, the advanced memory used alongside Nvidia’s AI processors in servers and data centers. As demand for AI infrastructure has surged, the company has moved quickly to add production capacity and retain the engineers and factory staff needed to support that growth.
The company said in its latest sustainability report that its voluntary turnover rate at domestic operations was just 0.5% last year. Among employees aged 30 to 49, the rate was 0.4%, the lowest among age groups. The company’s involuntary turnover rate was also 0.4%, bringing total turnover to 0.9%.
The low turnover comes as SK Hynix is hiring at a much faster pace. The company added 3,201 employees last year, more than three times the 942 it hired a year earlier. The increase was linked in part to the opening of the first clean room at its M15X semiconductor facility in Cheongju, a major production site south of Seoul.
For American investors and technology companies, the figures matter because SK Hynix sits deep inside the AI supply chain. The company’s ability to expand production depends not only on equipment and capital spending, but also on whether it can secure and retain skilled workers in one of the world’s most competitive technology industries.
Starting monthly pay for new employees with bachelor’s degrees in technical and administrative roles averaged $2,915 last year, according to the report.
The AI-driven upturn also lifted the company’s broader economic contribution. SK Hynix said it generated $13 billion in social value last year, up 69.4% from a year earlier. The company defines social value as the combined impact of economic contributions, environmental performance and social programs.
Indirect economic contributions, including employment, dividends and taxes, totaled $13 billion, up 69.8% from the previous year. Tax contributions rose to $6 billion from $2 billion, reflecting the company’s earnings recovery as demand for AI memory increased.
The expansion also brought higher environmental costs. SK Hynix reported a negative environmental impact of $630 million, compared with negative $520 million a year earlier, as semiconductor output increased.
Social contributions, including community programs and support for suppliers, rose 15.1% to $690 million.
The company reported limited progress in gender representation. Women accounted for 3.4% of executives last year, unchanged from the previous year. SK Hynix set a target of 3.9% for this year. The share of female team leaders rose to 6.8% from 6.5%, with a target of 7.3%.
More male employees used paternity leave, with 1,091 taking the benefit last year, up from 794 a year earlier.
SK Hynix also disclosed donations to industry groups, including $1 million to the Federation of Korean Industries, $547,000 to the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, $217,000 to the Korea Enterprises Federation, $152,000 to the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association and $140,000 to the Silicon Integration Initiative.
Separately, SK Innovation, the energy affiliate of South Korea’s SK Group, said it would transfer a 50% stake in an Airbus A319 corporate jet, valued at about $16 million, to SK Hynix. The move reflects SK Hynix’s growing overseas business, including in the United States, as its role in the AI chip supply chain expands.
The report shows how the AI boom is reshaping SK Hynix beyond sales and profits. For a company supplying critical memory to the world’s most powerful AI systems, keeping workers from leaving has become part of the competitive advantage.
