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LG Display's transparent OLED display panel LG Display Co. is joining other South Korean big companies in a race to foster their own talent by establishing relevant departments at prestigious universities amid growing competition to recruit talented engineers.The display panel maker said on Tuesday it has signed a deal with Yonsei University to set up a display convergence engineering department at the university’s graduate school.The company will also sign similar deals with Sungkyunkwan University on Thursday and Hanyang University on Friday to support students on master’s and doctoral programs.The three universities will recruit 10 students each at their LG-launched departments from 2023.LG said it will provide the students with full scholarships and research subsidies and hire them upon graduation.The company already agreed to establish a display convergence engineering department at Yonsei University at an undergraduate level last December.“Through these programs, we expect to secure more than 200 display experts by 2027,” said an LG executive. LG Display's rollable OLED displays WORSENING MANPOWER SHORTAGEThe move comes as Korean big companies are launching hiring-guaranteed programs at major universities to preemptively secure top talent amid a global shortage of high-quality manpower across advanced industries.LG Electronics Inc. said last month it will set up an artificial intelligence department at Yonsei University in the second half of this year to train aspiring AI engineers.The electronics maker is offering similar terms and benefits for the students with guaranteed hiring by the company upon completing their master’s programs.Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., the world’s two leading memory chipmakers, have also opened up semiconductor-related departments at prestigious universities.Earlier this year, Samsung launched a new hiring-guaranteed program at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) to foster chip professionals.SK Hynix has also launched similar academic programs at Sogang University and Hanyang University.The domestic chip industry needs about 1,500 new professionals every year, but the sector gets only some 650 fresh graduates from semiconductor-related departments at local universities, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The industry’s manpower shortage is expected to deteriorate as major players such as Samsung, Intel Corp. and Taiwan’s TSMC are ramping up their production facilities to stay ahead.By Ji-Eun Jeongjeong@hankyung.comIn-Soo Nam edited this article.
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