"Office Workers Are Making Profits From Stocks"... The Most Popular Sector Is AI and Semiconductors

[Financial News] A survey has found that many office workers in Seoul and the Capital Region are making profits in the stock market. Three out of four respondents said they are currently seeing gains from stock investments.
SpaceAd, an office media company, released the results of a survey on the stock investment status of office workers in the first half of 2026 on the 26th. The survey of 700 office workers in Seoul and the Capital Region found that 75% of respondents said, "I am currently making profits from stock investments."
By contrast, only 12.6% said they are currently seeing losses. The number of respondents in profit far exceeded those in the red, confirming that more than seven out of 10 office worker investors are making gains.
The largest share of office workers' portfolios was in "AI and semiconductors." Nearly half of respondents, or 49.6%, chose this sector.
This was followed by "domestic and overseas index-tracking ETFs" at 16.6% and "U.S. big tech growth stocks" at 13.6%. In a separate question on the sectors with the best returns, "AI and semiconductors" again ranked first at 56.6%, showing that office worker investors' interest and performance are concentrated in the same area.
The most commonly used information source for buy and sell decisions was "materials from economic experts," at 22.0%. "Intuition" at 20.7% and "information from acquaintances and coworkers" at 18.1% also ranked high, suggesting that surrounding information and personal judgment still influence investment decisions.
Other responses included "real-time trading volume" at 13.1% and "online communities" at 9.7%. On the other hand, "financial statements and official information" at 7.4% and "practical promise in everyday life" at 6.9% remained relatively low.
As for future plans, 97% said they intend to keep investing in stocks. The main reasons were the need for a wealth-building tool beyond savings and time deposits at 46.7%, and the need for income other than salary at 37.0%. This was followed by retirement funds at 8.4% and home purchases at 3.9%.
The most common trigger for entering the stock market for the first time was falling interest rates on savings and time deposits, cited by 43.1% of respondents. This suggests that the belief that assets are hard to grow through deposits alone influenced their decision to invest. Anxiety about "being the only one not doing it" at 21.7% and news from people around them that they had made money in stocks at 21.6% were also major reasons.


hsg@fnnews.com Han Seung-gon Reporter