Chey Says SK Hynix Shares Will Trend Up Over Time as Memory Demand Endures

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said on July 17 that SK Hynix Inc. shares will trend higher over time because demand for memory chips will continue.

Speaking at an artificial intelligence discussion during the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's summer forum in Jeju, Chey said he could not predict where the stock would be next month. But repeatedly buying and selling is not a good way to preserve wealth, he said, adding that it is better to simply hold the shares.

Chey also addressed future memory demand. AI is still like a 4-year-old child, he said, and memory will inevitably be needed as it grows into adulthood. Demand, he said, can only increase exponentially.

That dynamic is also why the stock has at times risen tenfold, he said. Shares climb when the outlook improves, but can drop sharply when sentiment turns even slightly.

Chey also laid out his view on South Korea's AI industry. AI in the future will be not just an industry issue but a national security matter, he said. South Korea will have difficulty lowering token prices, and it will also be hard to surpass the US on quality.

Instead, the country should build infrastructure and develop the applications it needs on top of it while creating niche markets, he said. As neutral countries caught between the US and China face difficult choices, South Korea needs to create conditions that allow it to export and sell either large language models, or LLMs, or applications.

South Korea also needs to shift its strategy toward exporting intelligence rather than goods in the future, Chey said. It should develop products that are safer than those from the US and China, or that offer their own advantages, and sell them abroad. That, he said, could become the country's growth strategy.