SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will chair HYAICO Corp., SK hynix’s US AI investment arm, for which the chipmaker announced plans in January to invest up to US$10 billion, Yonhap reported on 4 November, citing documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The appointment places SK Group’s chairman on the board of the company SK hynix plans to use for AI investments in the United States.
Key points
- Chey will chair HYAICO’s board, while SK hynix President Song Hyun-jong will be chief executive.
- SK hynix plans to convert its existing US NAND flash company into the investment arm and retain Solidigm as a separate subsidiary.
- An SK hynix official said investment funding would come through capital calls as needed, with Solidigm’s business proceeds kept separate.
Chey takes the HYAICO board chair
The securities documents identify the company as HYAICO Corp., replacing the provisional name AI Co. used when SK hynix announced the investment plan in January. SK hynix President Song Hyun-jong will serve as HYAICO’s chief executive.
A beneficial ownership report filed with the SEC on 3 November named HYAICO as the US investment company, Seoul Economic Daily reported. Yonhap said the filing was made public on 4 November, US time. The two dates describe the filing and its public release.
Former SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Sung-wook and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung are also joining the board, Seoul Economic Daily reported. It named another director as SK Telecom CEO Chung Jae-hun, bringing an executive from the group’s telecommunications business onto the investment arm’s board.
The Asia Business Daily also named the SK Telecom chief executive as a director but rendered his name Jung Jae-heon. It identified Chey as chairman and Song as chief executive of the company described in the beneficial ownership report.
SK hynix plans capital calls for HYAICO
SK hynix’s January plan set an investment ceiling of up to US$10 billion for the US arm. The company said the vehicle would seek new sources of AI growth and help advance AI in global markets. Those are the chipmaker’s stated aims for the investment programme.
HYAICO will look for AI companies in the United States in which to invest, according to Seoul Economic Daily. That gives the new entity a different purpose from the NAND flash business housed in the corporate structure SK hynix plans to convert. The investment plan is part of the group’s wider focus on AI memory and data centres.
An SK hynix official said the investment money would be supplied by SK hynix and other contributing companies through capital calls when required, Seoul Economic Daily reported. That arrangement describes how HYAICO is expected to draw funding against the investment plan, rather than treating the announced ceiling as an immediate payment.
The same official said HYAICO’s investment funds would be managed apart from profits generated by Solidigm’s existing business. Dividends and earnings from that business would flow back to SK hynix shareholders, according to the account of the official’s comments. The separation puts the planned AI investments and the NAND business proceeds on different financial tracks.
Solidigm name moves to a separate subsidiary
SK hynix plans to establish HYAICO by restructuring its existing US company, SK hynix NAND Product Solutions Corp., also known as Solidigm. A separate subsidiary called Solidigm Inc. will carry the brand name. The change reassigns the existing corporate entity to the AI investment operation while preserving a company under the Solidigm name.
The company being converted is SK hynix’s US NAND flash subsidiary. Its account of the funding arrangement leaves Solidigm’s operating proceeds with SK hynix shareholders and places HYAICO’s investments under the capital-call plan described by the SK hynix official.
