In the past, most corporations in Korea moved on the strong leadership and decisiveness of their founders. Samsung led by Lee Byung-chul and Hyundai led by Chung Ju-yung are prime examples. But as they now compete for the top spot in the global market, these corporations have grown so large that it is difficult for the owner alone to be responsible for management. The role of the so-called "keyman," who manages each field from the closest position to the owner and plays a crucial role in final decision-making for the future, has grown in importance. We introduce the keymen of major corporations leading Korea's economy and examine the roles and tasks assigned to them. [Editor's note]
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has been stepping to the forefront to emphasize the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and showcase his leadership, backed by SK hynix. That is because SK hynix is the only global corporations within SK Group exerting strong influence over worldwide AI trends. Accordingly, the importance of SK hynix at the group level and the stature of its head, President Kwak Noh-jung, have risen.
Since Sept. last year, Chey has bolstered SK hynix and President Kwak by taking on chairman and board chair roles at U.S. entities. Chey concurrently serves as chairman of "SK hynix America," which oversees local sales and marketing in Silicon Valley for the SK hynix Americas unit, and as chair of the board of "SK Americas," which oversees the group's government affairs in North America. This amounts to Chey's internal and external declaration to support the AI and semiconductor industries from the front.
President Kwak Noh-jung (60), who leads SK hynix, is at the vanguard of Chey's "AI drive." In Jun. 2024, Chey created a "Semiconductor Committee" within the SK SUPEX Council and appointed President Kwak as Chairperson. It signifies trust in President Kwak's leadership, which has steered SK hynix to become a leading AI memory corporations, to strengthen the groupwide semiconductor business capabilities.
Since President Kwak took office as chief executive officer (CEO), SK hynix navigated the memory downturn that began in 2023 relatively smoothly compared with competitors Samsung Electronics and Micron. It then seized the No. 1 spot in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market, emerging as a dominant player in the global AI memory market. Widely regarded as an excellent crisis-management CEO, President Kwak has established himself, with the owner's trust, as a professional manager symbolizing SK Group's AI drive.
◇ Crisis management during the memory downturn… early lead in the HBM market
Before becoming CEO of SK hynix, President Kwak's name was not widely known in the semiconductor industry. This contrasts with Samsung Electronics, which seats star engineers or individuals with remarkable achievements in DRAM as CEO. Park Sung-wook, the first head of SK hynix after its incorporation into SK Group, also became known after taking the CEO post. It suggests that Samsung, which has traditionally fronted charismatic leaders, and SK Group and SK hynix pursue different decision-making systems.
President Kwak, who holds a doctorate in materials engineering, is an insider who joined Hyundai Electronics in 1994 and gained comprehensive experience in research and development and mass-production stabilization as DRAM Process Head of Team, executive in charge of manufacturing technology, and head of the Cheongju fab. The prevailing view is that he is a field/manager-type leader strong in manufacturing competitiveness such as process stability, Production yield management, and cost structure improvement. However, because his position immediately before becoming CEO was head of safety, development, and manufacturing, some reacted that his selection was somewhat unexpected at the time.
President Kwak's strengths shone after 2023, when the memory cycle deteriorated sharply. Amid a global memory oversupply, Samsung Electronics recorded around 15 trillion won in operating losses in its DS (semiconductor) institutional sector in 2023, while SK hynix's 2023 operating loss was in the mid-7 trillion won range. The semiconductor industry assesses that the conservative operating strategy under President Kwak—such as timing of output cuts, investment execution control, and minimizing fixed costs—proved effective. The judgment to minimize losses while preparing for the next cycle became the foundation for the earnings recovery.
After overcoming the crisis, SK hynix turned to profit faster than Samsung Electronics and Micron and quickly pivoted to HBM, succeeding in capturing the early market. Park Jae-keun, professor at Hanyang University's Department of Convergence Electronics Engineering, said, "Kwak Noh-jung has exercised field-oriented leadership that raised decision-making speed by directly overseeing research and development and production sites," adding, "In areas like HBM, where technology transition and mass-production timing are critical, such leadership inevitably translates into results."
Within SK Group as well, SK hynix's overcoming of the downturn is cited as a model case. An SK Group official said, "Under President Kwak's lead, SK hynix stabilized the downturn and leaped to become a market leader, which is the most successful example of the Operation Improvement emphasized at the group level." In 2024, SK hynix set record-high results and rose as a core affiliate of SK Group. The stock price, which was in the 110,000 won range when President Kwak took office, exceeded 900,000 won as of the 30th of last month, and market capitalization surpassed 660 trillion won.
◇ A success story of SK Group's leader development system
The CEO of SK hynix was once seen as having weak independent authority. That is because SK Telecom, which led the acquisition when SK hynix was launched, was deeply involved in the overall management process, including investment, personnel, and finance. By contrast, group-level support and investment for SK hynix were relatively weak, drawing criticism that SK hynix was SK Group's "cash machine." A former SK hynix executive who retired said, "After Hynix was incorporated into SK Group, there was a transitional period when important matters were decided by people lacking the group's expertise."
Experts now assess that SK Group and SK hynix have stabilized a system leadership that does not rely on a "strong CEO," building a collective-intelligence decision-making framework. Kim Ki-chan, an emeritus professor at the Catholic University, interpreted SK hynix's recent performance as a product of organizational culture and management philosophy. Professor Kim said, "SK is an organization with strong group-level centripetal force," adding, "Compared with many large corporations, there are many cases of SK employees strengthening research capabilities, which is in line with former Chairman Choi Jong-hyun's emphasis on 'people-focused management.'"
In fact, President Kwak is cited as a successful case of the leader development system carried out within SK Group. An industry source said, "Until President Kwak was placed in the CEO candidate pool, many opportunities were provided at the company level, which became the foundation for capabilities to run the company with a mid- to long-term vision," adding, "It is a case where a professional manager suited to SK hynix grew with support at the SK Group level."
◇ Intensifying competition for HBM leadership… need for strategic investment
President Kwak's task is the fight for leadership in next-generation AI memory against Samsung Electronics, which has regrouped and emerged as a powerful competitor. In last month's earnings conference call for the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics expressed strong confidence, saying it would supply 6th-generation HBM (HBM4), which will be the biggest battleground in this year's HBM market, to Nvidia. Having escaped a slump, Samsung Electronics could threaten SK hynix's market leadership based on its advantage in production capacity—its greatest strength—along with HBM performance and quality.
On top of that is the task of strengthening system semiconductor design capabilities and production capacity, such as the logic die, which will be an inflection point for HBM performance. In Samsung Electronics' case, it has long-standing know-how in system semiconductor design and, unlike SK hynix, which must commission TSMC to produce logic dies, it also has large-scale production lines.
A university professor in Korea who requested anonymity said, "Memory-centric SK hynix is in a different weight class from Samsung Electronics, a comprehensive semiconductor company. Even so, SK hynix's leadership of HBM3E (5th-generation HBM) is a remarkable achievement." The professor added, "From HBM4 onward, performance is determined more by logic dies and packaging technology than by memory itself, and SK hynix inevitably bears a structural limitation of having to rely on TSMC to some extent," explaining, "Strategic investment is needed to ensure that its current advantage in the HBM market continues in the long term."