Establishment of SK Semiconductor Committee... Hynix Becomes Core of Group Investment

First Specific Industry Committee under Supex
Possible Additional Participation by SKT, Sapion, etc.
Hynix Responds to AI Memory Demand

SK Group is extending its growth story from energy and telecommunications to AI (artificial intelligence) and semiconductors. On the 1st, it established a Semiconductor Committee within the group’s highest decision-making body, the SUPEX Council, and has begun full-scale activities. The committee has also left open the possibility of adding companies to secure ‘AI and semiconductor value chain leadership.’ SK Hynix, whose importance within the group has increased, plans to invest 103 trillion won by 2028, focusing on increasing AI memory performance.

Semiconductor Committee Established Centered on SK Hynix

The Semiconductor Committee under SK SUPEX is chaired by Kwak No-jung, CEO of SK Hynix, and includes CEOs from SK Square, the ICT sector’s intermediate holding company, as well as SKC, SK Siltron, and SK Materials. An SK official explained, "It is composed mainly of affiliates included in the semiconductor value chain," adding, "In the future, reflecting the speed of AI business, companies such as SK Telecom or AI semiconductor affiliate Sapeon may be added as participating companies."

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group attended the management strategy meeting held on the 28th and 29th at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province via video conference and delivered the opening speech. / Photo by SK Group

This is the first time a committee for a specific industry has been created under SUPEX, which is usually organized around macro strategies or socio-economic themes. This indicates a strong commitment to strengthening semiconductor competitiveness.

The Semiconductor Committee will strengthen the semiconductor business value chain focusing on AI semiconductors such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). It will discuss ways to enhance synergy among each company’s businesses, from materials to wafers and specialty gases, and coordinate business roles.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated at the SK Group management strategy meeting held on the 28th-29th at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, "We must strengthen ‘AI value chain leadership’ from AI services to infrastructure by utilizing the group’s capabilities."

In particular, SK Group plans to secure 80 trillion won in investment funds by 2026 to pursue future investments and shareholder returns. The investment funds will mainly come from SK Hynix’s profits, which have recently enjoyed a boom, but will also be secured through improving profitability of core affiliates in energy and telecommunications and optimizing the business structure by internalizing high-quality assets.

According to financial information provider FnGuide, the estimated operating profits of SK’s major affiliates this year are 6.3407 trillion won for SK Inc., 2.589 trillion won for SK Innovation, 1.819 trillion won for SK Telecom, and 1.8949 trillion won for SK Square. The annual operating profit consensus for SK Hynix alone reaches a staggering 20.9605 trillion won.

SK Hynix to Invest 103 Trillion Won Amid ‘Increasing AI Performance’

In the business and semiconductor industries, the establishment of the Semiconductor Committee under SUPEX is interpreted as an elevation of SK Hynix’s status within the group. SK Hynix is responding to AI demand by launching not only HBM but also solid-state drives (SSD). Especially, backed by its key customer Nvidia in the United States, it leads the HBM market and has rapidly increased its performance since turning profitable in the fourth quarter of last year. This year, the proportion of HBM in the company’s total DRAM sales is expected to rise to double digits. Some securities analysts even predict it could exceed 20%.

Last week, SK Hynix also established the ‘Corporate Center,’ an organization supporting CEO decision-making, which can be seen in connection with this. A semiconductor industry insider said, "The group may have made a decision," adding, "It reflects the increased expectations for SK Hynix within the group."

The day before, SK Hynix announced plans to invest a total of 103 trillion won by 2028 to strengthen competitiveness in the semiconductor business. This is the first time the company has disclosed its investment plan for the next five years. SK Hynix plans to invest about 82 trillion won, approximately 80% of the total investment, in AI memory-related business areas such as HBM. To expand HBM production capacity, investments are planned not only for domestic production facilities at the Cheongju plant and the semiconductor cluster in Yongin but also for an advanced packaging facility to be established in Indiana, USA.