SK Group should accelerate rebalancing ahead of AI boom: Chief

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers the closing speech at the “2024 SK Group CEO Seminar” held at the SKMS Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on November 2, outlining the group’s AI business direction to the CEOs. (SK)

SK Group should seize rising opportunities from the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) by accelerating its business rebalancing efforts, according to its Chairman Chey Tae-won.

“The AI market is likely to undergo massive expansion in 2027, driven by the emergence of next-generation ChatGPT technology,” Chey said, during the 2024 CEO Seminar last week. “SK Group must expedite the completion of the ongoing Operation Improvement initiatives to seize this growth opportunity.”

The seminar, held at the Icheon SKMS Institute from October 31 to Saturday, was attended by senior executives, including SK Group Chairman Chey, SK Senior Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won, and 30 other executives.

The attendees outlined a roadmap to reinforce the group’s strengths particularly in semiconductor design and packaging for AI chips. They also discussed creating AI-driven solutions for customer demand.

They pledged to intensify rebalancing efforts to ensure operational efficiency. Chairman Chey said entrepreneurship and stakeholder communication are important, calling them “core elements of management” that are intangible but crucial for sustained growth.

Through Operation Improvement, SK Group’s ongoing restructuring initiative, SK Group managed to reduce its net debt by 8 trillion won this year.

SK hynix Inc., in particular, swung to a profit of a quarterly record of 7 trillion won in the July-September period of 2024 from nearly 8 trillion won in operating losses last year.