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🇰🇷 South Korea /Technology

SK Group chief considers building semiconductor plant in Japan and joint production with Kioxia

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the company is considering building semiconductor plants abroad, including in Japan.
  • He described joint memory-chip production with Japan’s Kioxia as one option, alongside possible cooperation in research, development and supply chains.
  • Chey also said SK hynix could end its investment in Kioxia if the companies cannot build a stronger partnership, while suggesting a concrete investment plan could be announced this year.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has raised the possibility of building a semiconductor plant in Japan and working with Kioxia on joint memory-chip production.

In an interview with Japan’s Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo on September 1, Chey called Kioxia “a company with many strengths” and said joint production was “one option.” He said the companies could also explore cooperation in research and development and share supply chains.

a company with many strengths

— Chey Tae-wonChey used the phrase when discussing Kioxia in an interview with Asahi Shimbun.

Kioxia, a Japanese maker of NAND flash memory, ranks fourth globally by market share based on second-quarter sales and shipments, according to the report. NAND flash stores information even when power is turned off.

one option

— Chey Tae-wonHe described joint memory-chip production with Kioxia as one possible form of cooperation.

SK hynix joined a South Korean, U.S. and Japanese consortium led by Bain Capital in 2018 to acquire Toshiba’s memory semiconductor business. Toshiba Memory changed its name to Kioxia in 2019. SK hynix invested a total of 395 billion yen through the consortium, including 266 billion yen and 129 billion yen in convertible bonds.

Bain Capital’s investment vehicle BCPE Pangea Cayman2 is currently Kioxia’s largest shareholder with a 14.19 percent stake, narrowly ahead of Toshiba’s 14.12 percent. SK hynix holds convertible bonds that could give it most of the voting rights in that investment vehicle, leaving it effectively in a position equivalent to Kioxia’s largest shareholder.

If we can no longer build a cooperative relationship, we will end our investment in Kioxia.

— Chey Tae-wonHe publicly raised the possibility that SK hynix could withdraw its investment.

Chey also signaled a possible end to the investment. “If we can no longer build a cooperative relationship, we will end our investment in Kioxia,” he said. He said the global artificial-intelligence investment boom had created a 20 to 30 percent shortfall in memory for AI data centers compared with demand. Japan, he added, was “a very attractive candidate,” and local governments there had approached the company about investment. He suggested a concrete plan could be announced before the end of the year.

a very attractive candidate

— Chey Tae-wonHe used the phrase to describe Japan as a possible location for an overseas semiconductor plant.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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