SK Group’s Chey Tae-won to Chair Board of SK Hynix’s US AI Investment Arm HYAICO

Seen as Signaling an Aggressive Investment Push

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, has become board chair of HYAICO Corp., SK Hynix’s US investment arm specializing in artificial intelligence. The appointment suggests Chey will take part in decision-making at the US AI investment vehicle and assume responsibility for those decisions.

A Nov. 4 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission lists Chey as HYAICO’s board chair and Song Hyun-jong, president of SK Hynix, as chief executive officer. Former SK Hynix Vice Chairman Park Sung-wook, SK Hynix Chief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-jung and SK Telecom Chief Executive Officer Jeong Jae-heon were also named as directors.

SK Hynix said in January that it would invest $10 billion to establish a Silicon Valley entity dedicated to next-generation AI semiconductor investments. The company said the aim was to secure leadership across the broader AI ecosystem. HYAICO has US NAND flash maker Solidigm as a subsidiary.

In the semiconductor industry, Chey’s appointment as HYAICO board chair is being interpreted as a sign of the group’s intent to pursue aggressive investments in US AI companies. The presence of a large number of senior SK Group executives on the board has also raised the possibility of group-level investment.

Roh Yu-jung, Hankyung.com reporter yjroh@hankyung.com