Samsung Electronics' flag, left, and SK hynix's headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi [YONHAP]
Korea’s semiconductor boom is no longer just reshaping paychecks — it is redrawing apartment maps, luxury shopping trends and even the marriage market.
The traditional white-collar formula in which elite university degrees and impressive credentials lead to high salaries is giving way to the era of the “silicon collar,” where even high school graduates in the production sector — formerly looked down upon as “just” blue collar — can receive performance bonuses worth hundreds of millions of won by riding the semiconductor boom.
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The term “silicon collar” comes from silicon, the core material used in semiconductor wafers, and refers to a new class of high-income technology workers benefiting from the boom in advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors through massive bonuses and rising assets.
