Interview with Our Newsroom on the 21st
"Prepared HBM Ahead of Competitors"
"Equipped with Quality, Sales, and Marketing Triad"
SK Hynix, known as a leader in the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) market, is accelerating efforts to strengthen its technological competitiveness.
Kim Ki-tae, Vice President of SK Hynix, said in an interview with the company newsroom on the 21st, "The basic principle of semiconductor sales is to secure customer volume in advance and negotiate to sell good products under better conditions," adding, "We have good products, so now it is a race for speed." He especially noted, "HBM was sold out this year," and "We are preparing for next year to secure market dominance."
Appointed as an executive at the end of last year, Vice President Kim is a leader in sales and marketing. SK Hynix’s HBM sales and marketing organization consists of the HBM Sales Team, HBM Marketing Team, and HBM Planning & Intelligence Team. Kim played a decisive role in leading this organization to help SK Hynix return to profitability in the fourth quarter of last year (operating profit of 346 billion KRW).
Vice President Kim assessed that the memory market's upward trend began this year as global big tech customers’ product demand recovered and AI utilization expanded with on-device AI embedded in devices themselves.
He emphasized, "To maintain continuous market superiority, technological competitiveness is fundamental, and from a sales perspective, shortening TTM (Time To Market?the time from product conception to market launch) is key."
Vice President Kim described HBM as "a monumental product that overturned the conventional notion that memory semiconductors are only a part of the entire system," adding, "SK Hynix’s HBM competitiveness is outstanding, and global big tech companies are eagerly seeking it due to its high technological capability."
He also said, "We have consistently prepared to respond to the AI era in sales and marketing by building cooperative relationships with customers in advance and predicting market formation situations," and "Based on this, the company established an HBM mass production foundation ahead of others and proceeded with product development, enabling rapid market capture."
Vice President Kim stated that meeting the expectations of global big tech customers requires the 'three harmonies' of quality control, sales, and marketing. He emphasized, "To provide a total solution encompassing various elements such as quality control, sales, and marketing, we optimized organizational operations this year," and "We will maximize 'one team' synergy by consolidating each team’s capabilities and do our best at the forefront of the market."
Vice President Kim recalled the semiconductor downturn that began in 2022 as "the most difficult time." He reflected, "From a sales perspective, we focused on improving profitability by concentrating sales capabilities on AI server and data center products centered on HBM, and in this process, rather than pursuing immediate profits, we looked further ahead and strengthened cooperation with customers."
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