What Is SK Group's Post-Corona Strategy?

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] As the World Bank forecasts that the global economy will contract by more than 5% this year due to the impact of COVID-19, and the shock is expected to be enormous, attention is focusing on SK Group as a company expected to leap forward in the post-COVID era. This is because SK Group’s business portfolio, which is being nurtured as a new growth engine?▲semiconductors and materials ▲healthcare ▲future mobility?represents the core value chain of newly emerging business trends through this pandemic situation.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK, emphasizes ‘Deep Change’?a fundamental structural reform for survival and growth?as the first step in preparing for the future. The ‘Deep Change’ emphasized by SK means innovation in the business model.

Accordingly, SK Group plans to strengthen its global competitiveness in the memory semiconductor sector through continuous technology and facility investments primarily in the semiconductor and materials fields. It also intends to continue enhancing competitiveness through vertical integration of core semiconductor materials.

SK Hynix expects that the increase in server demand from global companies due to the spread of remote work and the growth of the gaming industry will become new demand sources. Through prior investments, SK has achieved vertical integration of the semiconductor business not only through SK Hynix but also semiconductor materials companies such as SK Siltron and SK Materials. SK plans to achieve continuous growth through portfolio diversification in the post-COVID era.

SK Group’s healthcare business, which has recently shown visible results, will continue to focus on entering the global market in areas such as epilepsy and influenza and pneumonia through the development of synthetic drugs and vaccines, and further secure competitiveness in the production of specialty pharmaceuticals.

SK Biopharm recently began sales in the U.S. of the epilepsy treatment ‘Cenobamate’ (U.S. product name: Xcopri) and the sleep disorder treatment ‘Solriamfetol’ (U.S. product name: Sunosi). SK Bioscience is currently accelerating the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. SK Inc. has also been focusing on securing platforms in the antibody new drug development field by investing in venture companies ‘Hummingbird Bioscience’ and ‘Harbor Biomed,’ which possess machine learning technology related to antibody discovery.

In the future mobility sector, SK plans to lead related industries such as autonomous driving by utilizing ICT capabilities including AI, 5G, and Cloud, and expand domestic and overseas investments related to batteries to promote the spread of electric vehicles.

SK Telecom is focusing on the mobility sector based on its advanced 5G network technology. At CES 2020 held earlier this year in Las Vegas, SK Telecom introduced integrated in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), Roadrunner equipped with HD map update technology, and next-generation single-photon LiDAR. Recently, SK Telecom signed a joint development contract for integrated in-vehicle infotainment services with Volvo Cars Korea.

SK is also continuing investments in electric vehicle batteries, which will be a core driving force of mobility. In January this year, SK completed the acquisition of KCFT, the top manufacturer of copper foil, a key material for electric vehicle batteries, and changed its company name to SK Nexilis in April.

SK Innovation recently initiated the initial public offering (IPO) process for SK IE Technology (SKIET). SKIET’s main business includes the manufacturing and sales of lithium-ion battery separators (LiBS), a core material for IT and electric vehicle secondary batteries, and flexible cover windows (FCW) that replace glass in flexible displays such as foldable phones. To meet global electric vehicle market demand, SKIET recently started operating its 12th and 13th production lines in Jeungpyeong, Chungbuk. As a result, separator production capacity expanded from 360 million square meters per year to 530 million square meters. Overseas, the Changzhou plant in China is scheduled to begin commercial production in the fourth quarter of this year. A separator plant is also under construction in Poland.

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