Chey Tae-won's overseas trips highlight SK Group's focus on chips, AI

Industry

Published: 11 Dec. 2023, 18:54 Updated: 11 Dec. 2023, 19:00

Chey Tae-won's overseas trips highlight SK Group's focus on chips, AI

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks at the 2023 Trans-Pacific Dialogue in Washington D.C. on Dec. 4. [SK GROUP]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's latest itinerary reveals the group's fully-fledged dedication to semiconductors and AI.

Chey is visiting Veldhoven, the Netherlands'-based ASML headquarters on Tuesday, joining Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's delegation to the European country. Chipmaker SK hynix is a client of ASML's advanced lithography machines. Chey is expected to meet with ASML CEO Peter Wennink and take a tour of its clean room.

Chey had visited ASML in 2015 and looked around the facilities.

Prior to visiting the Netherlands, Chey made several stops in California, visiting SK hynix's U.S. entity as well as Gauss Labs and Lunar Energy headquarters.

Chey was briefed on the HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chip business at SK hynix's San Jose office where he requested the employees to act "flexible," when handling diverse issues ranging from market dynamics to geopolitical issues.

Gauss Labs is a startup dedicated to AI solutions for chip manufacturing based in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 2020 by SK hynix and is headed by Kim Young-han, a tenured professor at UC San Diego. Chey told Gauss Labs employees to find ways to expand the deployment of its AI solutions beyond chipmaking processes.

Lunar Energy is an energy storage firm founded in 2020 that SK Inc., SK Innovation and SK E&S invested in.

Chey is expected to fly to Germany on Monday to meet Timotheus Hottges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, along with SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang to further discuss global partnerships.

SK Telecom and Deutsch Telekom established a Global Telco AI Alliance early this year to offer AI solutions to some 1.2 billion people across 45 countries.

"Chey's year-end itinerary shows his determination for 2024 to accelerate the group's 'Global Story' and oversee new-growth businesses such as chips, AI and future energy," SK Group spokesman said.

Global Story indicates it will expand its global network and build a win-win strategy among various stakeholders based on a mutual understanding.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]