SEOUL -- John Baek is 32, single and open to a serious relationship. But on a first date, he's got a particular dilemma: He doesn't want to say where he works.

His South Korean employer is Samsung Electronics, one of the corporate champions of the global AI boom. Profits are so enormous that Baek, a memory-chip engineer, is set to receive a six-figure bonus -- a sum worth many years of paychecks for the average Korean.

Baek and his co-workers wonder if the extra romantic interest they're seeing is sincere or a reflection of their ballooning finances.

"Samsung chip engineers haven't traditionally had to think about this type of stuff," he said.

The tech boom has supercharged South Korea's economy and stock market. Now it's inflating the dating value of semiconductor-industry bachelors and bachelorettes. They're as coveted now as the memory chips that AI companies need to build more data centers.

Workers at Samsung and fellow Korean chip maker SK Hynix were forever a step behind the country's lawyers, doctors and accountants as marriage material. But for the first time, they're pulling even, according to local matchmaking agencies. "Tech Giants Take Over the Marriage Market," read one recent headline in a South Korean newspaper.

A Samsung Electronics chip engineer, appearing on a dating show recently, attracted interest from three different women. "He had a dependable image," one of them said. SK Hynix employees' lofty standing in society got parodied in a viral "Saturday Night Live Korea" skit. A bald, frumpy man enters a luxury clothing store. He gets dismissed until shedding his jacket and revealing a company vest with "SK Hynix" emblazoned across the back.

"Hynix God!" the saleswoman shrieks.

Count Kim Young-won among the newly interested. The 26-year-old photographer had long placed doctors and attorneys atop her dating wish list. But now there's room for employees of Samsung and SK Hynix.

Kim laments not having any close contacts working at either chip company, or even knowing someone who's dating an employee.

"I wish I was that one person," Kim said.

South Korea's main stock market, dominated by the two chip giants, has grown by roughly 2 1/2 times since the start of last year. Samsung and SK Hynix in recent months joined the select group of global companies to hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion or more.

Bonuses are expected to average about $400,000 per employee this year at Samsung, and roughly half a million at SK Hynix.

The figures have made Charlie Moon, who will soon start an engineering job at SK Hynix, a frequent target of his parents' friends. They ask if he's single. He has to politely tell them he has a serious girlfriend.

"Of course you do," Moon, 31, said he typically hears.

Annie Kwon, a 26-year-old chip engineer at Samsung, thinks she found a workaround to vetting outsiders. She avoids them. That's why she's coupled up with a fellow Samsung semiconductor-division employee.

"Double income," she said.

That extra spending power can burden the uninitiated like Roh Hee-jin, 27. Her Samsung boyfriend recently gifted her a Nintendo Switch 2 that runs around $450. Roh, who works as a software developer outside the chip industry, had to save up to buy a mini-PC to reciprocate.

"I can't just keep receiving," Roh said, "without giving back."

Jung Da-kyung, a law student, recalls a female friend asking her brother-in-law, an SK Hynix employee, to be introduced to someone at the chip maker. He spurned the request. SK Hynix workers, Jung's friend was told, are only dating co-workers.

That makes Jung an increasingly rare breed. Her boyfriend works at Samsung's chip division. "They are aware that their value has gone up," said Jung, who considers her relationship safe for now.

The newfound fortunes can haunt those who left SK Hynix and Samsung just before the memory-chip gold rush. One ex-SK Hynix employee, who started a career as a personal-finance influencer, has written a bestselling book about investing, owns four properties and has built a net worth of roughly $1.5 million.

Still, in a recent YouTube video, the woman, who goes by "Rabbit Habbit" online, lamented leaving what's likely to be years of surefire six-figure bonuses. "I'm both envious," she said, "and a bit bummed out."

Edward Ji, 34, has no regrets. He stayed at SK Hynix. He got a fat bonus from the company's blockbuster 2025, which dovetailed with his wedding day late last year. The influx of funds allowed the newlyweds to buy a modest apartment. They splurged on their honeymoon to Australia, flying business and booking a private helicopter tour of the Great Ocean Road.

Ji and his new wife, expecting a bigger bonus in the coming months, are now eyeing newer apartments with scenic views of Seoul's Han River. They believe they can have a child on a quicker timetable.

"I'm glad I can do more with the people I love," Ji said.

Kelly Jeong, a 30-year-old designer, had a SK Hynix boyfriend for roughly three years. But they broke up just over a year ago.

Now, Jeong has a new man who doesn't work in the chip industry. But she doesn't have second thoughts about splitting with her former flame. Except in one regard.

"I keep wondering," Jeong said, "why didn't I buy SK Hynix stock?"