By Heekyong Yang, Hyunjoo Jin and Heejung Jung
SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) – The global AI boom has turned South Korean chipmaking giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics into stock market darlings. It has also thrust their employees into the top tier of the country’s highly competitive marriage market.
South Korean matchmaking firms say people working at the firms are now being ranked alongside doctors, lawyers and people from other traditionally elite professions as hefty bonuses linked to the global AI boom create a new class of affluent employees.
Career consultants say job seekers are increasingly going after roles at Samsung and SK Hynix, including high school students, while some cram schools have started courses to help applicants prepare for job interviews at the chip giants.
“If SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics employees used to be classified as B+ or A-grade candidates, today they are closer to A+,” said Son Dong-gyu, chief executive of matchmaking agency Bien Aller.
“Traditionally, A+ candidates would include doctors, lawyers, other highly paid professionals or people from exceptionally wealthy families,” Son said.
Samsung and SK Hynix employees are in line for generous bonuses as the global AI boom fuels demand for the firms’ memory chip products, driving share prices and profits to record highs. On Monday, SK Hynix overtook Samsung to become South Korea’s most valuable firm by market value.
SK Hynix revised its bonus structure last year and last month, Samsung struck a pay deal with its union that included performance bonuses of around $416,000 for some chip employees. South Korean workers earned an average of about 45 million won ($29,758) a year in 2024, according to government data.
“People still prefer traditional professions such as doctors, lawyers and dentists,” matchmaking consultant Lee Sung-mi of agency SUNOO said. “But recently, when we introduce someone working at SK Hynix, the reaction is often ‘Wow, people like that are here too?'”
MOVE OVER DOCTORS, LAWYERS
The chip fanfare is also reshaping educational paths in South Korea where the medical and legal professions have long been the careers of choice.
Some students are even looking to vocational schools, since some jobs at semiconductor factories need only a high school diploma.
“Many of my friends are envious of me,” said 19-year-old Jung Sung-chan, a student at Pyeongtaek Meister High School, who got a job offer from Samsung Electronics as a chip facility engineer.
“Honestly, even if you go to university first, it is hard to find a job these days. So, I think that might be one of the reasons why this place is becoming more popular recently,” he said.
Career advisers, university professors and students also say they are feeling the shift on university campuses. While Samsung and SK Hynix have long been considered prestigious family conglomerate-run companies in South Korea, their appeal long lagged the appeal of being a doctor or lawyer.
“The competition (to get into Samsung and SK Hynix) has become intense,” said Park Jun-young, a former Samsung Electronics employee who now works as a career consultant for university students. “It is almost beginning to resemble the college entrance race itself.”
Growing interest from students in a semiconductor engineering degree that Korea University first launched with SK Hynix in 2021 drove the program’s admission score to a historic high this academic year, according to data analysed by Jongro Academy.
Koo Bon-ho, currently in his first year of the course, said a chip engineering job seemed like a safe long-term bet. “Compared with my friends, I feel relatively secure about employment prospects.”
Concerns over job security have been growing in South Korea, with the unemployment rate among South Koreans aged 15 to 29 rising to 6.1% in 2025, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
Professor Lee Hyung-min of Korea University’s Semiconductor Engineering Department said the industry is finally receiving recognition commensurate with its importance to South Korea’s economy, which relies on chips for more than 40% of its exports.
Lee, the matchmaking consultant, said she expected the appeal and good fortunes of the chip sector were unlikely to wear off anytime soon.
“Many people expect the semiconductor industry to remain in a boom cycle for at least the next two to three years.”
($1 = 1,512.2000 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang, Hyunjoo Jin and Heejung Jung; Editing by Brenda Goh and Kate Mayberry)
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