CES Held Two Weeks Before Trump's Inauguration... Eyes on SK Chey Tae-won's Trip to the U.S.

'CES2025' 3 Years Consecutive Attendance
US Business Trip in January Next Year Under Review
Expecting Message of Korea-US Cooperation
Meeting with AI-Related Figures
Meeting with Heavyweights Including Jensen Huang and Global Big Tech CEOs
Checking Situation in Indiana Building HBM Packaging Production Facility

Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, is reportedly considering a long business trip to the United States for more than ten days, including attending the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES2025) held in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10 next year (local time), drawing attention from the business community on the 24th. If the trip to the U.S. takes place, it will be the first in about seven months since June.

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group Yonhap News

It appears that CES will be attended for the third consecutive year. Especially this year, CES is held about two weeks before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, making it a stage where Korean companies can demonstrate their technological competitiveness and showcase their capabilities as excellent economic partners of the U.S. Attention is focused on whether Chairman Choi will lend his support by visiting CES. Additionally, there is great interest in whether he will meet with key figures locally in the U.S. As President Trump's inauguration approaches, a shadow of uncertainty looms over the Korean economy, making communication with the U.S. more important than ever. The government's diplomatic activities, facing an impeachment crisis, are effectively at a 'zero hour.' Accordingly, the role of business leaders is rapidly rising. Following Jung Yong-jin, chairman of Shinsegae Group, who met with President-elect Trump, and Ryu Jin, chairman of Poongsan Group (chairman of the Korea Economic Organization Association), who was invited to President Trump's inauguration on January 20 next year, attention is focused on whether Chairman Choi will take meaningful steps in the U.S.

Meetings with Giants like Jensen Huang Draw Attention

If Chairman Choi attends CES, it is almost certain that he will meet Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA (CES), to discuss partnerships. CEO Huang is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech locally in the U.S. on the 6th, a day before the opening of CES. Afterwards, he is expected to meet Chairman Choi to discuss additional cooperation plans related to the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that SK Hynix supplies to NVIDIA. The two previously met on April 24 when Chairman Choi visited NVIDIA's headquarters in Silicon Valley, U.S. Furthermore, CEO Huang sent a congratulatory video to the 'SK AI Summit' held on the 4th and 5th of last month, demonstrating their close relationship once again. At this event, Chairman Choi also revealed for the first time that the HBM4 12-layer product, originally scheduled for release in 2026, will have its supply schedule advanced by about six months at CEO Huang's request.

In addition to CEO Huang, Chairman Choi is highly likely to meet key figures from major U.S. global big tech companies such as Microsoft (MS) and OpenAI, with whom SK is collaborating on AI-related businesses, while attending CES. Attention is also focused on whether he will meet with figures from the U.S. economic and political sectors. As Korean economic organizations have recently taken active steps to send reassuring messages to economic partner countries, Chairman Choi has also stepped forward in economic diplomacy. On the 22nd, in his capacity as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he sent an official letter to the chairpersons of chambers of commerce from 28 countries and foreign ambassadors from 116 countries residing in Korea, stating that "the Korean economy is functioning normally." He also expressed his determination to successfully host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) business event scheduled to be held in Gyeongju in October next year. Chairman Choi will serve as the chairperson of the '2025 APEC CEO Summit' in October next year.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, met last April. Photo by Yonhap News

Likely Visit to Indiana with 'Subsidy Confirmed'

In the semiconductor industry, it is highly anticipated that Chairman Choi will also visit West Lafayette, Indiana, where SK Hynix is building a state-of-the-art HBM packaging production facility during this U.S. trip. It is expected that Kwak No-jung, president of SK Hynix, will accompany him. President Kwak is reportedly positively considering the U.S. trip, including attending CES, together with Chairman Choi.

SK Hynix was recently finalized to receive direct subsidies of up to $458 million (approximately 660 billion KRW) and government loans of $500 million (approximately 720 billion KRW) from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Accordingly, SK Hynix is in a position to hasten construction progress and related facility investments as stipulated in the signed contract. According to industry sources, while design and scheduling for local construction have all been coordinated, ground has yet to be broken.

Chairman Choi is expected to inspect the local construction status and closely review the subsidy payment plans. Although the subsidy contract has been signed and payment confirmed, analysts say it is still too early to be complacent, and continuous verification is necessary. The subsidy will not be paid all at once but will be disbursed in stages over a long period according to SK Hynix's construction and investment progress. Therefore, even after President Trump's inauguration and the new administration takes office on January 20 next year, subsidies are expected to continue, but it is uncertain whether this process will proceed smoothly. The Trump administration, which has expressed doubts about subsidy payments under the Biden administration, may impose new conditions and overturn subsidy negotiations. While President-elect Trump shares common ground with President Biden on the need to attract semiconductor investment to the U.S., he reportedly prefers tariffs over subsidies. In October, he appeared on a local podcast and said, "Semiconductor subsidies are very bad. It is not right to pay a lot of money to make companies produce semiconductors. There is no need to pay even 10 cents. It could have been done through tax policy."