[New Year's Message] Lee Seok-hee, CEO of SK Hynix, "We Will Secure Cost Competitiveness to Overcome Uncertainty"

Lee Seok-hee, CEO of SK Hynix

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Lee Seok-hee, CEO of SK Hynix, stated that to overcome the new normal era faced with uncertainty, the company will secure cost competitiveness and expand strategic markets.

At the New Year's meeting held on the morning of the 2nd at the Supex Center of the Icheon Campus in Gyeonggi Province, CEO Lee began by saying, "The semiconductor industry is facing uncertainties complicated by various factors, including not only trade disputes but also the entry of new competitors and instability in the Internet Data Center (IDC) market."

He emphasized that securing cost competitiveness is the top priority to overcome uncertainty. CEO Lee explained, "The fundamental strength to break through an uncertain market is price, and we must maximize cost competitiveness to provide satisfaction beyond the level customers desire."

He added, "This year, we will begin full-scale production and sales expansion of 10-nanometer-class 3rd generation DRAM and 128-layer NAND flash-based solution products, and drastically improve costs through continuous resource (management resource) management, including productivity and yield enhancement."

CEO Lee also revealed a blueprint to focus on expanding strategic markets. He said, "Developing products that satisfy customers and expanding those markets is the first step toward evolving into a product- and customer-centered business system that we have emphasized so far," and stressed, "Technological leadership is not limited to technology development but must be completed by quickly transitioning this technology to mass production and receiving customer approval." This indicates an intention to shift to the most optimized system from planning to sales, including development, mass production, and customer response.

Furthermore, he argued that skills and performance must be redefined based on the premise of starting from the customer. CEO Lee stated, "Our technology and product competitiveness must be recognized by customers, not by our own evaluation, and must lead to visible results to accumulate true value," and added, "The company will improve its internal constitution and reorganize all processes and management systems to prepare for the future in line with these changes."

Finally, he declared that all systems and management frameworks aimed at the ultimate goal of ‘employee happiness’ will be changed to focus on employees and the field. He emphasized, "With the belief that growth can increase both performance and happiness, we will support capability development," and highlighted, "SK Hynix’s corporate culture dreams of creating results and growing together not by working 'harder' but by working 'happier.'"

CEO Lee said, "The path to happiness amid uncertainty may be more difficult than imagined, but because it is not easy, I believe it is a valuable challenge," and added, "I hope we can gather the synergy of 'us' so that the seeds of happiness sown here and there bear concrete fruit, and together embark on a happiness journey to become a 'company where employees are happy.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.