Chapter 193: Talent Black Hole
In the memory semiconductor sector, Isung Electronics was akin to the final boss.
Its market shares stood at 41.2 percent in DRAM, 33.4 percent in NAND flash, and 49 percent in smartphone memory semiconductors.
Isung Electronics overwhelmed its competitors with its formidable cost competitiveness.
―Isung Electronics is getting involved with Earth Semiconductor?
―Given how much revenue Isung Group is pulling in from Earth Resource, they're probably just sharing some know-how here and there.
―If Isung Electronics steps in, Earth Semiconductor could establish itself really quickly.
The public viewed it as a mere nominal collaboration. But when the media dug into it, Earth Semiconductor turned out to be no storm in a teacup.
〈Earth Semiconductor to Aggressively Enter Foundry Sector Beyond Automotive Semiconductors〉
―Foundry? They're jumping into foundry to compete with TSMC or Isung Electronics?
―Semiconductors are the rice of industry. While 5nm and 7nm products go into phones and laptops, there are plenty of foundries making 12-14nm chips.
―I'm in the industry. There's GlobalFoundries in the US—they bounce between 3rd and 4th globally, producing various semiconductor chips for electronics on behalf of others.
―Yeah, not every semiconductor in electronics needs ultra-fine processes.
〈Silicon Valley Semiconductor Developers Flock to Earth Semiconductor〉
―There's this company in San Francisco called Earth Resource. It's the top choice for content creators, cloud engineers, and software devs. Now they're snatching up semiconductor talent too.
―Why is everyone dying to join Earth Resource?
―Great salaries and bonuses. It's growing so fast, perfect for building a career. And the perks are insane.
―Perks?
―CEO Kim Shin said it at the start of the year. San Francisco's cost of living is too high, eating into employees' housing budgets. So they started providing housing.
―For real?
―Yeah... They bought up residential buildings near the office and let employees live there for free. In San Francisco, a three-bedroom runs over $5,000 a month in rent—that's top-tier welfare there.
〈Earth Semiconductor to Break Ground on Semiconductor Fab in Austin, Texas This Year〉
―They say "this year," but only two months left—starting construction that fast?
―What, they had the semiconductor tech ready?
〈Earth Semiconductor Purchases Site Larger Than Earth Factory, Equivalent to 13 Times Yeouido〉
―Whoa, for real?
―Looks like they're serious about massive investment.
The scale and speed of Earth Semiconductor's investments far exceeded what the average person could imagine.
* * *
〈Goldman Sachs Lends $35 Billion to Earth Semiconductor〉
〈Berkshire Hathaway Acquires $10 Billion in Earth Semiconductor Corporate Bonds〉
Securing funds wrapped up smoothly and swiftly.
In the US, pulling in capital was no issue as long as the business had strong prospects.
〈Isung Electronics to Collaborate on Sub-10nm Advanced Semiconductor Processes〉
〈Earth Factory Semiconductor Expansion Underway〉
In the semiconductor industry, 10nm held massive symbolic weight.
It was the fine process capable of producing cutting-edge products like CPUs and mobile chips.
〈Isung Electronics: "Earth Semiconductor's Technology and Financial Power Are Attractive"〉
〈Reason for Isung Electronics Collaboration: Strengthening Foundry Business〉
〈Isung Electronics Chooses Earth Semiconductor to Counter Buy America Policy and TSMC〉
Under the Biden administration's Buy America policy, Korean companies had to build factories in the US.
The foundry business, where steady investments hadn't easily boosted market share, was the focus.
They planned to partner with Earth Semiconductor to bolster it.
―Isung Electronics really allying with Earth Semiconductor?
―They're dumping $50 billion in at once, for real.
―That's the boldness of a super-rich.
They agreed to extensive collaboration on D-RAM, NAND Flash, image sensors, system semiconductors, and more.
Following Earth Car, Earth Semiconductor ramped up hiring for new grads and experienced hires, swelling the workforce.
Earth Resource had no trouble recruiting, but Earth Car and Earth Semiconductor were flooded with applications by the hour.
Secretary Rosina reported.
"A factory manager from Mirae Motors?"
"He's got 30 years at the Ulsan plant."
For Earth Car development, they onboarded Mirae Motors veterans and retirees.
In fact, plenty of current Mirae Motors employees and researchers applied too...
But considering ties with Mirae Motors, they quietly rejected them.
"Isung Electronics folks cover everything from consumer appliances to semiconductors. They've got S-grade and A-grade talents classified there."
Plenty from Isung Electronics wanted to jump ship too.
When he casually mentioned it to Vice Chairman Seon Jae-yong, he readily approved taking them on.
Earth Semiconductor quickly built its core team.
〈Twitter Employees in 24/7 High-Intensity Work〉
〈Elon Musk Installs Bed at Twitter HQ for Work〉
Twitter stories were popping up frequently lately.
Turning around a money-losing company bloated with staff wasn't easy.
Shifting to a dev-heavy firm after office workers left would boost efficiency, sure.
'Even devs who love their work—can they really grind that hard?'
Employees might find fulfillment in intense labor, but fundamentally, life needs to be enjoyable to stick with a job.
Even Oh Myeong-woo rages if you take away his gaming time.
'Tell them to quit if they hate it? How crucial are jobs to people's lives?'
Back in his first couple years at Arcor, fear of layoffs kept him grinding.
Get fired before two years in, and good luck finding work as a newbie or mid-level.
Someone like Elon Musk, with his insane success streak, probably never felt that employee anxiety.
'Anyway, I can't run the company on my own skills.'
Like Earth Channel, Earth Car and Earth Semiconductor relied on staff for R&D and production.
To get top performance, they needed matching rewards.
Elite developers would bolt without proper treatment matching their skills.
〈Earth Resource Secures Apartments for Employees〉
〈CEO Kim Shin Buys Four San Francisco Residential Buildings for Staff Welfare〉
Positive articles rolled out.
The publicity provided a huge boost to recruitment at Earth Car and Earth Semiconductor.
"Jong-yeop."
"Yes, hyung."
"Earth Channel awards show prep going well?"
The year-end gala was set for a massive event in Los Angeles, home to the content division.
Earth Channel lacked history or tradition but had money and popularity in spades.
"Tying in the convention center and hotels. LA city officials are cooperating too."
They planned a film screening fest for public attendees.
Premiering next year's Earth Channel films, sponsoring indies—shaping up like a full film festival.
Lee Jong-yeop was handling housing for staff and all these initiatives.
"One more thing to do."
"Another one?"
"Yeah. Ask the actresses coming to the awards not to wear white dresses."
"Ask them?"
"It's a pretty unreasonable request. So make it super polite in my name. Can't force it if they show up in one, though."
Jo Soo-ah had worn a white dress to the year-end party as a newbie.
It was so stunning he'd lost his mind staring.
"Got it."
Lee Jong-yeop grinned, catching on to the reason.
* * *
From the Korean government's view, Earth Factory was unwelcome.
At a cabinet meeting, the Minister of Economy and Finance said.
"Electric vehicles already, and now taking our key export semiconductors too?"
"It's the US government's will. They've even passed the CHIPS Act to wage a semiconductor production war with China."
"Kim Shin's Korean, but he's short on consideration for Korea. Shame Earth Resource's an American company."
They couldn't strong-arm domestic giants like in authoritarian days.
This was a US ally pushing a project with White House attention.
"I get everyone's views. Guess I'll have to step in."
Prime Minister An Hee-sang was already planning a sit-down with Kim Shin.
With Earth Semiconductor launching, the justification was ripe.
"I'll head to the US tomorrow if needed."
The delay wasn't for lack of reason.
"It's the Prime Minister's Office of Korea. Prime Minister An Hee-sang wants to meet CEO Kim Shin. Schedule for this Wednesday afternoon."
The PM's office called Earth Resource's secretariat directly.
―CEO Kim Shin isn't interested in political meetings.
"Prime Minister An Hee-sang is coming to San Francisco himself."
CEOs usually received visiting PMs with deference.
―And?
The Earth Resource staffer replied in a perky, appealing voice.
―Do you know how important CEO Kim Shin is? He turns down the UK Prime Minister without a compelling reason.
The PM's aide faltered at the UK PM mention but pressed on confidently.
"It's different from other countries. Prime Minister An Hee-sang is from Kim Shin's homeland, Korea."
―Understood. Then what's the purpose of the meeting?
"Well..."
―You need to state the agenda to schedule with the CEO.
"..."
They aimed to meet and extract maximum concessions—hard to specify an agenda.
The aide went with the best he could.
"It's about discussing Korea-related business."
―Korea business? Talk to Biolife's Executive VP An Myeong-guk for that.
"Pardon?"
―He handles all Korea operations.
"..."
Scheduling with Kim Shin via Earth Resource was notoriously tough.
His SNS showed workouts, fishing, gaming—no time for a PM apparently.
But with Earth Semiconductor, the need to meet had grown.
〈Prime Minister An Hee-sang's Surprise US Visit〉
〈An Hee-sang to Meet Kim Shin for Earth Factory's Success〉
They'd meet in the US.
Press releases went out for public awareness, of course.
'If the press got it first, just do a separate interview or get his understanding in person.'
Prime Minister An Hee-sang arrived in San Francisco with ten staffers and Korean reporters.
* * *
"The Prime Minister from Korea came to meet hyung."
Lee Jong-yeop reported it, though he'd seen it in the news.
"He's in the US now?"
"Yes, arrived on a morning flight."
He didn't usually like meeting politicians, but since he'd come to San Francisco, a meeting was in order.
Sending the PM packing could look like snubbing Korea.
"See him today."
Soon after, he met Prime Minister An Hee-sang.
After brief greetings, they cut to the chase.
"Automobiles and semiconductors are Korea's flagship products. Entering these fields and producing goods could undermine Korean companies' competitiveness..."
"..."
"You're Korean, CEO. I'm sure you're willing to build Earth Factory in Korea for job creation and economic boost. The government will support fully."