A brain drain to China is taking place at an alarming pace at South Korea’s mainstay semiconductor and display industries and even fledgling artificial intelligence sector as Chinese companies court Korean engineers under their ambitious “Made in 2025” campaign to become powerhouse in high tech and components.

Korean tech brains snub the local two-year job ban upon leave in high-tech areas and head for China with core technology secrets, according to sources knowledgeable on the affair.

Sources said three Samsung Electronics senior researchers in OLED panel development quit this year and discreetly joined China’s state-run display company BOE, which in the third quarter last year outpaced LG Display in liquid display panel sales.

BOE has caught up to rival Korean players by acquiring Korean company Hydis in 2003, a holder of multiple patents in TFT-LCD. Sources said BOE recently tapped Korean brains in a secret recruitment plan and made significant progress in OLED where Korea is superior.

Chinese companies are dishing out hefty salaries to draw top talent from Korea. Samsung researchers at manager positions are offered an annual salary of around $440,000, three to four times higher than they are offered in Korea, said an official at a Korean electronics company.

"BOE is widely rumored to have recruited some 100 engineers from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and SK Hynix,” said the official. Another source at a display industry said “BOE is already in talks with Apple for part supply and getting closer to delivery to some smartphone manufacturers. Korea may be at higher risk of being overtaken in premium 65-inch or above OLED panels sometime next year.”

Recruits hide their job shift by applying for university projects as it is harder to prove violations under industry-academia collaboration.

By Shin Hyun-kyu and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]