The investment comes after a March commitment to spend $90 billion on a chip fabrication facility near Seoul. SK Hynix, the second-largest chipmaker in South Korea after Samsung, plans to invest $74.6 billion over the next three years to develop memory chip technologies focused on artificial intelligence (AI).
Parent company SK Group aims to secure an additional $57.8 billion by 2026 to further fund its AI initiatives, according to a Reuters report. The report also notes that SK Group has recently "suffered heavy losses" through SK Hynix and its vehicle battery subsidiary. If the additional funds are secured, the total investments will reach nearly $133 billion, despite SK Hynix having a market capitalisation of about $118 billion at the time of publication, according to Companies Market Cap.
SK Group sees these significant investments and the increased focus on AI technologies as a strategy to recover from its reported losses and ensure the company's future financial stability. The shift towards AI will also help streamline SK Group's operations, reducing the number of its subsidiaries from the current count of "more than 175" to better align with its goals and ambitions.
The enterprise-level AI market is highly competitive, dominated by Big Tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia. However, the semiconductor market is broader and more competitive. As technology companies increasingly enter the AI space and Big Tech continues to innovate, the demand for AI-capable chips has surged, leading to a global shortage.
SK Group reportedly believes that its current investment strategy will boost its profits from a projected $16 billion in 2024 to nearly $30 billion by the end of 2025.
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