AI Dividend Rewrites Workplace Hierarchy! SK Hynix Tops South Korean University Students' Employment Preferences for Second Consecutive Year; Q2 Earnings to Set Record on 29th

According to the latest survey, SK Hynix has secured the top spot as the most desired employer among South Korean university students for the second consecutive year, capturing 14.2% of support. Samsung Electronics follows with 8%, while CJlive's Olive Young enters the top three for the first time at 6.6%. Naver (5.1%) and Samsung Biologics (3.6%) rank fourth and fifth, respectively—marking a reversal of South Korea’s traditional elite hierarchy of 'medicine > elite universities > large conglomerates'.

The survey, conducted by South Korea's job portal Incruit from June 4 to July 19 among 1,811 university students, revealed that 57% of respondents chose SK Hynix primarily due to its 'salary and benefits system'. Among Samsung supporters, 37.2% cited the same reason. SK Hynix leads across both genders (14.6% for males, 13.9% for females) and across humanities, engineering, and natural sciences majors.

Kakao held the top position for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, but Samsung reclaimed the lead in 2023 by raising starting salaries. In 2024, however, SK Hynix surged eight places to claim first place, fueled by the AI memory cycle that began last year.

South Korean scholar Kim Yun-jun noted that prior to 2025, it was common to see top-tier STEM talent in South Korea 'abandoning chips for medicine'. Now, semiconductor roles are once again highly sought after. Incruit's survey is considered newcomer-friendly and reflective of genuine graduate preferences.

SK Hynix will release its Q2 2024 financial results on Wednesday (29th). Fourteen brokerage firms unanimously project revenue of 84.1 trillion KRW and operating profit of 64.1 trillion KRW—representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 596%, exceeding the total profit of 2025. The operating margin is expected to reach 75%–77%, with AI data centers and HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) contributing an estimated 75% of total revenue.

From Kakao’s 'connectivity dividend' to SK Hynix’s 'AI memory dividend', top talent is voting with their feet, cementing semiconductor engineers at the apex of the new professional hierarchy.