A job at Samsung Electronics is the preferred employment option for many job seekers in South Korea. The company has an outsized presence in the country. Not just that, it's one of the top conglomerates in the world that shapes new technologies across many industries.

It naturally requires the best talent to be able to achieve those goals but it now faces some competition, as more people are leaning toward its cross-town rival SK Hynix.

A poll conducted in South Korea found that SK Hynix has emerged as the most preferred company among job seekers in the country. The preference has shifted largely due to the AI boom and SK Hynix's stellar performance last year, largely due to its lead in the HBM3e race.

20% of the respondents in the poll expressed a wish to work at SK Hynix followed by 18.9% in second place who preferred Samsung Electronics. This is the first time that SK Hynix has eclipsed Samsung Electronics in these surveys.

One of the reasons respondents cited in their preference of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics was high wages, compared to other companies on the list such as Naver and Samsung C&T. That's hardly surprising as the margins in this particular industry tend to be on the higher side and thus wages tend to be higher as well.