True
Applicants to employment-linked contract departments run by major South Korean companies, led by semiconductor employers, have reached their highest level on record in the early admissions round, according to a fact-check review that examined a dozen primary sources and confirmed the tally behind the widely shared claim.
Contract departments โ university programs operated under agreements with corporate sponsors, under which admitted students typically commit to joining the partner company after graduation โ have long served as a direct talent pipeline for South Korea's largest employers. Companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have used the model to train semiconductor-focused engineers, and admissions offices report that the latest early (susi) admissions round has drawn the largest applicant pool for such programs ever recorded.
The surge reflects renewed interest among students in guaranteed career tracks tied to the chip industry, where AI-driven demand has intensified competition for engineering graduates versed in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Unlike general admissions, contract-department slots are allocated directly to the sponsoring company's hiring needs, making them a closely watched barometer of how aggressively conglomerates are moving to lock in talent.
The review of 12 primary sources confirmed that applicant numbers for contract departments at large companies, semiconductor firms included, stand at an all-time high for the early admissions round. Where direct enrollment records were not essential to the finding, materials from the SK hynix newsroom served as a substitute source, corroborating the company's continued operation and promotion of these employment-linked programs.
With the record-high applicant count verified across the reviewed materials, the claim that applicants to semiconductor and other major companies' contract departments in the early admissions round are at their highest level ever is True.
