SK Hynix's Social Value Reached 4.9845 Trillion Won Last Year

34% Decrease Compared to Last Year Due to Downturn Impact

SK Hynix announced on the 27th that it created 4.9845 trillion KRW in social value (SV) last year. According to the SV measurement categories applying the common SK Group formula, the company recorded 5.0452 trillion KRW in 'economic indirect contribution performance,' 825.8 billion KRW in 'environmental performance,' and 765.1 billion KRW in 'social performance' last year.

SK Hynix's Social Value (SV) Measurement Results for Last Year /
[Image provided by SK Hynix]

SK Hynix explained, "Due to the downturn in the semiconductor industry, the SV creation amount last year decreased by 34% compared to the previous year (7.5845 trillion KRW)." They added, "Although SV measurement items were generally sluggish, we reduced environmental impact during production by developing high-performance products that maximize power efficiency, such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and Double Data Rate (DDR)5. As a result of strengthening the technological competitiveness of the domestic semiconductor ecosystem through win-win growth activities with partners, we achieved meaningful results in related measurement items," they said.

The economic indirect contribution performance decreased by 35% compared to 2022 due to a reduction in tax payments. Environmental performance reduced negative impacts by 21% year-on-year through the development of high power-efficiency products and the reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions. Social performance decreased by 9% compared to the previous year as the company reduced investment scale during the downturn, leading to a decrease in purchases from domestic materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) companies. However, by supporting vulnerable groups through social enterprises, the product and service (quality of life) category recorded an SV performance increase of 19% compared to the previous year.

SK Hynix explained that since it began measuring SV in 2018, the SV creation amount excluding dividend and tax areas, which are heavily affected by market conditions, has steadily increased over six years. Based on this criterion, SK Hynix's SV creation amount last year was 3.9073 trillion KRW, a 42% increase compared to 2018 (2.7591 trillion KRW), when it achieved its highest operating performance.

Lee Byung-rae, Vice President of SK Hynix (in charge of sustainability management), said, "Although the SV creation scale was sluggish compared to the previous year due to the downturn impact, the semiconductor industry has entered a rebound trend since early this year, and as the company continues to focus on ESG and win-win cooperation, we expect to significantly increase SV this year." He added, "We will continue to strive to create value across the domestic semiconductor ecosystem."

Since 2022, SK Hynix has included partners in the SV measurement process to enhance ESG capabilities across the domestic semiconductor ecosystem. Last year, 19 partners, including Daeduck Electronics, Dongwoo Fine-Chem, and Mico Ceramics, participated, and the total SV created was 1.6074 trillion KRW.