MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest designer of 5G handset chips, is stepping up its recruitment drive this year, with plans to hire more than 2,000 engineers specializing in core technologies, including 5G, wireless communication and artificial intelligence (AI).
That would be double from the more than 1,000 people it hired on average in the past few years, as the Hsinchu-based company looks to boost growth this year and beyond.
It also comes as the company plans to launch a new 5G chip, Dimensity 2000 series, which supports mmWave technology and sub-6-gigahertz technology, at the end of this year. That would be the first mmWave chip from MediaTek.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
The chip designer plans to offer an annual compensation of NT$1.5 million (US$53,658) for engineers with a master’s degree and more than NT$2 million for those with a doctoral degree, it said in a statement.
Those are higher than the compensation offered by local semiconductor companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Mediatek said it plans to spend at least NT$100 billion on research and development this year, which is about 30 percent higher than the NT$77.3 billion it spent last year.
The company also plans to give incentive bonuses to employees. Last year, it distributed an incentive bonus of NT$100,000 each to 17,000 employees after it posted a record-high revenue of NT$322.1 billion, up 30.8 percent from the previous year. It expects a 40 percent increase in revenue this year.
MediaTek has proposed issuing 19.08 million new common shares in the form of restricted stock for employees who have made significant contributions to the firm, or with core technology capabilities that are crucial to the company’s development.
The proposed share issue is subject to shareholders’ approval at the company’s annual general meeting on June 10.
Shareholders are also to elect new board directors. MediaTek president Joe Chen (陳冠州) is on the short list of directors, while vice chairman Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) and incumbent board director Wayne Liang (梁公偉) are to leave the board, the company said.
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