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Chey Tae-won becomes first SK hynix America chairman

Published: 14 Nov. 2025, 19:24 Updated: 17 Nov. 2025, 12:17

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks during the SK AI Summit 2025 at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Nov. 3. [YONHAP]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has been appointed as chairman of SK hynix America. As the company has only been led by presidents and vice presidents until now, the move is a clear signal that Chey is taking more direct control of SK Group’s U.S. operations as it seeks to deepen ties with major tech partners like Nvidia.

According to SK Group’s third-quarter filing with the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, Chey has served as chairman for both SK Americas and SK hynix America since September.

SK Americas oversees SK Group’s U.S. businesses and serves as the North American control tower, liaising with the U.S. government and managing investments in the group’s core sectors: AI, semiconductors and batteries.

SK hynix America, for which the chairman post was newly established, functions as a global outpost that handles sales, marketing and R&D in the United States on SK hynix's behalf. The unit’s growing significance is driven by its major clients, including tech giants such as Nvidia.

An HBM4 chip, SK hynix’s sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, is displayed at the company’s booth during Semiconductor Exhibition 2025 at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Oct. 22. [YONHAP]

In the third quarter, SK hynix America posted 40.06 trillion won ($27.86 billion) in revenue, nearly double the 21.16 trillion won it reported during the same period last year — a 90 percent increase. It now accounts for 62 percent of SK hynix’s total revenue of 64.32 trillion won.

Chey stepped down as chairman of Solidigm’s board, a position he had held since September 2022. Solidigm, acquired by SK Group in 2020, had been running losses until last year, when growing demand for enterprise solid-state drives helped it post a profit for the first time — a sign the business has entered a stable phase.

Going forward, SK hynix is expected to focus on strengthening its partnerships with U.S. tech firms through next-generation memory solutions, such as high-bandwidth memory and AI NAND.

With a memory supercycle underway, both SK hynix and Samsung Electronics are ramping up investments in facilities and research and development (R&D) to prepare for future demand.

A visitor examines SK hynix semiconductor products at the SK AI Summit 2025 held at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Nov. 3. [NEWS1]

SK hynix's cumulative capital expenditure reached 17.83 trillion won through the third quarter, up 6.58 trillion won from the first half of the year. The company has accelerated its investment pace by moving equipment to its new M15X semiconductor fabrication plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong.

R&D spending for the third quarter also rose to 4.65 trillion won, up over 1 trillion won from 3.56 trillion won a year earlier.

Samsung Electronics also released its third-quarter report on Thursday, showing 28.52 trillion won in cumulative capital spending in its semiconductor division — a 7.80 trillion won increase from the first half of the year.

The company’s R&D expenditure reached 26.89 trillion won, up 8.6 percent from 24.75 trillion won a year earlier. Google’s parent company Alphabet returned to Samsung’s list of top five clients for the first time in two quarters.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK HAE-LEE, LEE GA-RAM [[email protected]]