Nasdaq debut 'historical moment,' expects huge AI investment
Executives of the semiconductor and memory chip company SK hynix attend the company's opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq market on the day of their IPO in New York City, U.S., July 10. Reuters-Yonhap
WASHINGTON -- SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said Friday that South Korean chip giant SK hynix's debut on the tech-heavy Nasdaq is a "historical moment" and a "dream come true," expressing his expectation for the group's large-scale investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Chey made the remarks during a CNBC interview after the chipmaker made its Nasdaq debut through the listing of its American depositary receipts.
"First of all, this is a truly historical moment, and we've been waiting for a long, long time," he said. "SK acquired hynix 15 years ago. So it's kind of a dream come true."
Aside from memory chip production, Chey pointed out his expectations for his conglomerate's investments in the broader AI industry.
"I am expecting at least ... tens of billions of dollars for the AI side," he said.
"We are talking about just memory chips, but I am looking at large investments in AI, AI data centers, technologies and startups, or joint ventures with my partners," he said. "I'm expecting huge investments sooner or later."
He stressed that the Nasdaq debut will give SK hynix a new kind of momentum, saying that access to the global market is a "beautiful thing," which will enable the company to have "a lot of financial options" available in the future.
"While we can have a lot of options to play ... like stock options, we can actually hire a lot of U.S. or global talent easily," he said.
Asked how he can ensure that investors in SK hynix are not investing at a peak price, Chey highlighted that the world is "in the AI era" where "the demand structure is little different."
"In the old days, memory chips depended on the number of people or the number of hardware sets. But in this AI era ... AI is not just bound by the number of people or hardware sets," he said.
"We are talking about the AI agents (and) physical AI robots that need a lot of memory chips. So the demand grows exponentially."
Asked whether he is considering investing and building chip facilities in the United States, Chey said that his team is studying the possibility.
"It's not easy to build memory fabs. We need clean water, land, the workforce and ecosystem for the supply chain. So, well, if it's possible, then why not?" he said.
He also said that his company is trying to find "the right place" for its future investments.
"Not only in the U.S. It's probably all over the world. I am trying to find the right place," he said.