Choi Tae-won: "Group Rebalancing and AI Investment Are Not Different Actions"

Emphasizing Investment Direction Shift Through Business Restructuring
AI Summit Held: "Cost is the Bottleneck in AI Development"
Highlighting Collaboration with Big Tech Companies

Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, explained that the group's business restructuring (rebalancing) and expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) investments are "not completely different actions."

On the 4th, at the 'SK AI Summit 2024' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Chairman Choi told reporters, "There is a need to make efforts to reduce where reduction is necessary, and the reduced portion must be invested somewhere else," adding, "The proportion of AI among the investment areas will increase, and these two actions are not different."

Over the past six months, SK Group has successfully improved financial soundness by reducing net borrowings by 9 trillion won through rebalancing. Additionally, through further rebalancing and operational improvement (O/I), the group plans to strengthen competitiveness in core businesses such as AI, semiconductors, and energy. The nearly 219 affiliates will be reduced by more than 10% by the end of the year through mergers and sales.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is answering questions from reporters at the 'SK AI Summit 2024' held on the 4th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. (Provided by SK Group)

In his keynote speech that day, Chairman Choi emphasized accelerating global AI innovation by collaborating with world-leading partners such as Nvidia, Microsoft (MS), and TSMC to resolve bottlenecks in AI development.

He stated, "Most of the bottlenecks in AI development are cost issues," and “It is absolutely impossible to solve what you think is a bottleneck alone.”

He continued, "To lower costs, chips are needed, energy solutions are needed, and how to solve problems with data is the direction we are heading in the future," adding, "It would be good to create ways to reduce costs and discuss them with many other companies to establish a virtuous cycle if possible."

Furthermore, regarding collaboration with big tech companies, Chairman Choi said, "If they think our projects or businesses can be beneficial, they may become customers, join as investors, partner to solve bigger problems, or take such directions," adding, "Big tech companies are pursuing more solutions and approaches, and among them, we collaborate on those that fit well, but we cannot work together on those that do not."

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group (right) is answering questions from reporters at the 'SK AI Summit 2024' held on April 4 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. (Provided by SK Group)

When asked what makes SK more attractive than other companies, Chairman Choi said, "Various solutions of SK’s AI data centers ultimately help save costs," adding, "It is necessary to prove how much can be saved, but we believe there is potential, and we are discussing that potential with each other."

Regarding some forecasts that SK Hynix will surpass Samsung Electronics, the semiconductor industry leader in performance, he said, "It is quite cautious to talk about other companies," but added, "Samsung has far more technology and resources than we do, and I am confident that Samsung will ride the AI wave well and achieve even better results."

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