Chairman Choi Tae-won of SK: "Building Operation Improvement and Domain Knowledge Is Key to Gaining Leadership in AI"

"SK Must Evolve Beyond Memory to Become a Comprehensive Solutions Provider"

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, stated, "Only by excelling in Operation Improvement (O/I) can we build artificial intelligence (AI) on top of it," adding, "Through this process, we will be able to resolve the issues we have been grappling with, one by one."

According to SK Group on November 9, Chairman Choi made these remarks during the closing speech at the '2025 CEO Seminar,' which was held from the 6th to the 8th at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, with CEOs and executives from major member companies in attendance.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is delivering the closing speech at the 'SK Group CEO Seminar' held from the 6th to the 8th at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. SK

Chairman Choi, Senior Vice Chairman Choi Jae-won, Chairman Choi Chang-won of the SK SUPEX Council, and approximately 60 CEOs and executives from major member companies agreed at the seminar to further strengthen their fundamental competitiveness by continuously pursuing O/I.

Chairman Choi emphasized, "O/I may sound like a difficult term, but it essentially means mastering the basics," and added, "When implementing O/I, it is not just about having well-established processes for the company and its businesses, but rather, it is more important to consistently monitor whether these processes are actually functioning properly." He continued, "If a company attempts to transition to AI without a solid foundation, it is bound to fail," and stressed, "We need to review the processes of the past five to ten years to avoid repeating mistakes."

Chairman Choi also highlighted the importance of thoroughly acquiring 'domain knowledge,' which refers to the expertise and experience accumulated in one's core business. He said, "If you introduce AI without domain knowledge, things will not work out," and added, "Only when you have domain knowledge can you take the lead in the AI competition."

Discussions also took place on business strategies for the AI era, the direction for SK Group's successful AI transformation, and ways to strengthen AI-based business models for each company. The CEOs agreed to continuously enhance the group's overall AI execution capabilities and foster collaborative synergy by sharing and reviewing the AI implementation achievements and challenges of each member company in the future.

Chairman Choi proposed, "SK must evolve beyond supplying high-performance memory semiconductor products to become a provider of the most efficient solutions for customers, based on AI infrastructure such as AI data centers," and suggested, "Let us play a leading role in advancing the AI ecosystem in Korea by consolidating the capabilities of our member companies and fostering open alliances with partners."

At this CEO seminar, there were also discussions on strengthening capabilities in safety, health, and environment (SHE), information security, and compliance management as a way to reinforce the company's fundamentals and principles. The management reviewed key tasks to enhance the group's competitiveness in safety, health, and environment.

Discussions continued on improvement measures to enhance the level of information security at each company. Information security was recognized as a part of strategic management, and excellent security improvement cases were shared. The CEOs also agreed to make special efforts to enhance compliance management by establishing a board-centered autonomous and responsible management system.