South Korea's technology sector is experiencing a talent crisis its own success has created. The domestic AI market has grown fast enough to generate enormous demand for engineers with LLM expertise. But supply has not kept pace, and the result is an internal arms race between the country's biggest technology companies with measurable negative effects on the broader ecosystem.
The numbers are stark
According to the Korea Information Technology Industry Association, annual turnover among AI engineers at Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Kakao, Naver, and LG Electronics exceeded 27% in 2025, up from 14% in 2022. More than 60% of senior AI hiring is now lateral movement between Korean tech giants.
What the poaching looks like in practice
The pattern is now well-established: Naver recruits a senior researcher from KAIST or POSTECH. Samsung's AI Centre approaches that researcher 18 months later with a package including guaranteed research budget, stock grants, and publishing flexibility. Kakao then approaches Samsung's hire with an offer to lead a product-facing AI team.
Companies have responded with retention bonuses equivalent to 30–40% of base salary for senior AI engineers — a cost that is itself becoming unsustainable.
The startup problem
Startups including Wrtn Technologies, Scatter Lab, Upstage, and Nota AI are finding it nearly impossible to retain the talent they train. The moment a junior engineer demonstrates LLM competence, large companies begin reaching out with base salary differentials of 40–60%.
What could break the cycle
Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT launched the AI Talent 10,000 Initiative, aiming to train 10,000 AI specialists at graduate level by 2028. This will eventually increase supply, but the three-year lag means the current crisis will get worse before it gets better.