Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, said, "We are conducting due diligence not only in the United States but around the world to find a suitable location for building a memory fab," adding, "If we find a suitable site in the United States, we will invest."

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group; Choi Jae-won, senior vice chairman; Kwak Noh-jung, CEO of SK hynix; and other executives and employees hold a depository receipts (ADR) Nasdaq listing ceremony at the Nasdaq Tower in New York, United States, on the 10th./Courtesy of News1

After attending the SK hynix American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing "opening bell" ceremony at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, Chey answered a question from U.S. broadcaster CNBC about the possibility of investing in a memory fab in the United States.

However, Chey set out preconditions regarding building a memory fab in the United States. He said, "Building a memory fab is not easy," and added, "You need an ecosystem that can support not only power, water, land, and talent but also the supply chain." This is interpreted to mean that, beyond the level of support from the U.S. government, whether infrastructure can be secured to operate a large-scale semiconductor plant stably could be a key factor.

SK hynix is currently investing about $4 billion (about 60 trillion won) to build an advanced packaging production base in Indiana. If a fab that directly manufactures memory wafers is also established in the United States, SK hynix's local supply chain would expand one step from packaging to production.

In the interview, Chey also hinted at the possibility of large-scale investment across the U.S. AI industry, separate from the memory fab investment. He said, "I expect at least tens of billions of dollars of investment in AI, AI data centers, related technologies, and startups," adding, "We are seeking a variety of joint investments in AI businesses with partners."

He expressed confidence about the increase in memory demand driven by the spread of AI. Chey said, "In the AI era, the demand structure itself has changed," adding, "AI agents, physical AI, and robots require massive amounts of memory chips, so demand is growing exponentially." He continued, "We announced that we would double production capacity within five years, but customers say that is not enough and are asking for more volume."

He also drew a line on concerns that rising HBM prices could prompt big tech corporations to develop new architectures that reduce memory usage. Chey emphasized, "There are no signs at all that the HBM market is contracting."

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