‘Super Momentum’: From HBM to AI... Book on Chey Tae-won’s Management Strategy Published

SK Hynix Surpasses 500 Trillion Won in Market Capitalization
Becomes No. 1 in Global DRAM Semiconductor Market Share
Features Exclusive Interviews with Chairman Chey

A book has been published that details the achievements of SK Hynix-including the world’s first development of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), becoming the No. 1 company in the global DRAM semiconductor market for the first time since its founding, and surpassing a market capitalization of 500 trillion won-as well as the management philosophy of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

The consulting group “Platform 9 and 3/4” announced on January 26 that it has published the book “Super Momentum,” based on interviews with key executives such as Chairman Chey and SK Hynix CEO Kwak Nohjung, as well as former and current engineers.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is giving a greeting speech at the 2026 Economic Community New Year's Meeting held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 2nd. 2026. 01. 02 Photo by Joint Press Corps

The authors believe that SK Hynix’s emergence as a key player in the AI era through HBM was not a matter of luck, but rather the result of persistence, a one-team organizational culture, and decisive leadership. They describe this as an “underdog” narrative and provide a detailed account of the 20-year journey of technological development.

Through the book, Chairman Chey emphasizes that the core of the HBM story is artificial intelligence (AI), stating, “We were standing at a crucial crossroads.” Chey, who led SK Hynix when it was long ranked second in the semiconductor market, focused on server DRAM to achieve technological leadership and was quicker than anyone to identify the market shift as key target customers rapidly pivoted to AI, enabling the company to be the first to develop chips capable of high bandwidth.

The book also features episodes in which Chairman Chey, during his first meeting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at the company’s headquarters in 2021, became convinced of the AI vision, and received advice on the semiconductor industry from TSMC founder Morris Chang.