Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, dismissed concerns about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble, saying demand for AI will strengthen over the next few years.
At an interview with Bloomberg TV on the 29th at the APEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Summit in Gyeongju, Chey said he expects AI-related demand to accelerate as AI development evolves from communication between humans and AI to interaction between AI and AI.
Chey said, "As AI development shifts to interaction between AI and AI, an enormous amount of memory capacity will be needed," adding, "We (SK hynix) are actually producing a lot of memory." SK hynix is a major supplier of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), an essential component of AI chips made by Nvidia.
Chey acknowledged that the expense of building AI infrastructure "costs excessively much" for now, but stressed that the AI industry is in its early stage. Chey said AI's "potential is enormous" and noted, "We are investing while taking some risk. If there is no risk, there is no revenue."
However, Chey pointed to the limited number of cases that make practical use of AI as a hurdle to overcome. He added that if tangible results do not emerge within the next 10 years, the AI industry could come under pressure.
Bloomberg said, "As Nvidia's market capitalization topped $5 trillion for the first time ever on the 29th and AI-related stocks surged around the world this year, questions have been raised about whether the stock market is overheating," adding, "However, leaders of technology pioneering corporations, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, are strongly confident that AI will continue to grow, and Chey, like other technology leaders, dismissed concerns about an AI bubble."