Busan Names 15 Employment Firms After They Created 869 Jobs in 3 Years

Q: Amid a national tech talent crisis, how many of Busan's new jobs are in critical fields like AI and semiconductors?

There is no published figure showing how many of Busan’s 869 newly created jobs were specifically in AI or semiconductors. The city’s announcement identifies 15 “Outstanding Employment Companies” and says they created 869 jobs from 2023 to 2025, but it does not break those jobs down by occupation or technology field. It only says 10 of the 15 firms are in manufacturing and five are in non-manufacturing, with recipients ranging from electrical equipment and engineering companies to hospitals, architecture, trading and services. That means it is not possible, from the available Busan data, to say how many of the new jobs directly address South Korea’s national shortage in advanced sectors such as AI and semiconductors. The additional reporting also explicitly notes that no specific Busan-level count is available for those critical fields. What is clear is that Busan is trying to build that pipeline. The city is investing more than 150 billion won from 2022 to 2026 in the Busan Digital Innovation Academy to train 10,000 specialists in AI, cloud and big data, and it is also backing semiconductor infrastructure projects. But those are talent-development and industrial-support measures, not a disclosed tally of current AI or chip jobs among the 869. So the factual answer is that the number is undisclosed, even though Busan is actively positioning itself to expand employment in those sectors.

1 articles · Updated · 매일경제 · Jun 15

15 Busan companies were designated “2026 Outstanding Employment Companies” after adding a combined 869 jobs from 2023 to 2025, with certificates to be awarded at city hall on June 16.
68 applicants entered the program, and Busan narrowed the field to 15 through document screening, field evaluations and a selection committee review.
40 million won in workplace-improvement subsidies tops the support package, which also includes real-estate acquisition tax exemptions for new purchases and a suspension of local tax audits.
321 companies have received the designation since 2010, as Busan uses the three-year certification to reward firms that sustained hiring despite high interest rates and inflation.