Students of vocational high schools attend a job fair at Ilsan Kintex in Goyang. Yonhap

The Seoul government plans to nurture around 4,000 high school graduates with expertise in semiconductors by 2031 to help tackle manpower shortages facing domestic chipmakers, its education chief said Wednesday.

Some 4,050 semiconductor talents will be nurtured at vocational high schools in the capital city by 2031 by cooperating with chipmakers and universities, according to Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

The education office will designate some vocational high schools specializing in chipmaking and support reorganizing their departments, according to Cho. The schools will also be able to work together with chipmakers and universities.

According to the latest data by the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, the local semiconductor industry will need a talent pool of around 78,000 with high school diplomas in 2031, sharply up from some 44,000 in 2021.

Korea ― home to Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, and SK hynix, the world's second-largest DRAM supplier ― has spearheaded various talent cultivation plans to support the semiconductor industry amid intensifying global competition. (Yonhap)