Editing by Li Panpan

He is 42, male, has worked in an R&D position with a semiconductor company for 18 years. Holding an undergraduate or master's degree, he is based in Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen. He has changed jobs at least three times but has no entrepreneurial experience. He earns more than RMB 1 million a year ($158,173). 

This is typical of a higher-paid employee in China’s semiconductor industry and JW Insights’ recruitment division found after sampling close to 100 higher-paid talents in the Chinese semiconductor industry, helping corporates in talent recruitment and training.  

China’s semiconductor industry is entering the golden stage of development. But the talent shortage is a common challenge.  

In China, the annual salary of new graduates in related positions has exceeded RMB300,000($47,439) now, increasing by nearly 50%. Although salaries in the industry are generally high, talents with an annual salary of more than RMB1 million ($158,313) are still rare. JW Insights samples those talents and portrays them from three aspects: basic information, job positions, and job experiences.

1. Basic information 

Gender and age: 93.18% are males and 6.82% are females. Their average is 42 years old, with more than 60% between 36 and 45. 

Details are: 34.09% between 41 and 45; 27.27% between 36 and 40; and 20.45% between 46 and 50.

Their educational background: 50% are undergraduates, 36.36% are masters, 6.82% are doctors, and another 6.82% are with MBA degrees.

Among them, 65.91% graduated from key universities designated by China’s Ministry of Education; 27.27% graduated from ordinary universities, and 6.82% graduated from universities in China’s Hong Kong or other countries. 66% of the total have chosen to further their academic training during employment. 

Where do they work? 79.55% are in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Only 13.64% work in newly emerging first-tier cities like Hangzhou and Chengdu.

2. Job information  

Job positions: more than 30% are above the company’s deputy general manager level, and the percentage for key R&D positions is also outstanding.

Details are: 18.18% occupy essential positions in CXO, and 15.91% are in key R&D positions, which shows that the industry attaches great importance to scarce technical talents.

As for working years, the average is 18.45 years, of which more than 60% of them have worked for more than 16 years.

More details: 29.55% have worked in the industry for 16 to 20 years, the most significant percentage. The proportion of employees with working years of 11-15 years and 21-25 years is the same, both at 27.27%. Only 6.82% have worked for less than ten years.

Frequency of job hunting: more than 70% change jobs between 3 and 7 times, with an average of 4.6 jobs. 

Details: 75% change jobs 3 to 7 times, of which 38.64% change jobs 3 to 5 times, the highest of all. The frequency with less than three and more than seven times both accounted for less than 30%.

3. Job experience

90.2% are professional managers with no previous entrepreneurial experience. 50% have managed teams with more than 100 members, and 11.07% have experience managing more than 1,000 members.

JW Insights maintains a strategic partnership with over 30 microelectronics schools in China’s universities and their recruitment system. It provides IC companies with a full range of HR solutions and salary report consulting services as part of its six-core businesses of “industry consulting, brand marketing, information service and consulting on intellectual property rights, investment and financing, and recruitment.