SK Chairman meets Chongqing leaders

By Nam Hyun-woo

SK Group said Sunday that its chairman Chey Tae-won visited the Chinese city of Chongqing and discussed plans for business cooperation with ranking officials of the city.

In a meeting with Chongqing’s Communist Party Secretary Sun Zhengcai, Mayor Huang Qifan and 20 other officials, Saturday, Chey said the group will be “devoted to in-depth research on how SK and Chongqing can meet each other’s demands and plans for mutual prosperity.”

“I will do what I can for Chongqing to create a success such as with our SK hynix factory in Wuxi and ethylene plant in Wuhan,” Chey was quoted as saying.

Secretary Sun is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and widely noted as a leading candidate for membership of Politburo Standing Committee. Also, Mayor Huang, who is considered an economic expert, has led Chongqing to top other Chinese municipalities in terms of GDP growth for eight consecutive quarters.

“Chongqing has an increasing demand for chemicals and semiconductors, but the supply cannot meet this,” said Sun. “This provides a niche to cooperate with SK Group, which has leading technology in those fields.”

Huang echoed: “SK is a company which can enjoy a great synergy when it cooperates with Chongqing. I hope there will be more chances to work together.”

In 2014, SK hynix built a flash memory chip factory in the southwestern Chinese city.

The plant assembles and tests NAND flash chips made at the company’s plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. During his stay in Chongqing, Chey paid a visit to the factory to check the production line and was briefed about semiconductor market moves in China.

“The meeting bears significance because it established a framework for long term friendship between China and SK by networking with China’s next generation leaders,” said an SK Group official.