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SK hynix held its 73rd General Shareholders Meeting on March 30th at the SUPEX Hall of the SUPEX Center at Icheon Campus, South Korea.

The meeting was held simultaneously both online and offline this year for the first time as an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Shareholders who signed up for participation in advance were able to join the meeting by watching a video webcast in real-time.

At the meeting, SK hynix introduced its Financial Story during a separate session, in addition to general procedures such as approval of financial statements, appointment of executive directors and non-executive directors, and approval of directors’ remuneration limits. Through this session, shareholders were able to hear detailed explanations from the SK hynix CEO Seok-hee Lee about the company’s willingness to increase the shareholder value, as well as the future plan pursued by the company.

Meanwhile, the shareholders of SK hynix decided on all the agendas at the meeting.

Financial Results Improved under Challenging Conditions in 2020

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CEO Lee, as the chairman of the meeting, said in the business report, “Amid difficult conditions including COVID-19 and the rapidly changing global business environment, SK hynix achieved KRW 32 trillion in sales and KRW 5 trillion in operating profit in 2020, which is highly improved compared to the previous year, through rapid development of leading technology and flexible response to demand.”

Also, CEO Lee cited some notable accomplishments last year, including growth in server DRAM, improvement in portfolios of NAND Flash products and customers, and establishment of foundation for mid- to long-term growth. He explained that with excellent quality competitiveness, the sales of 1Ynm-based high-capacity DRAM modules increased. In case of NAND Flash, cost competitiveness was enhanced through rapid mass-production of 128-layer products, and solid state drive (SSD) sales targeting data centers increased compared to the previous year. For mid- to long-term growth, he explained that SK hynix signed a contract to acquire the NAND and SSD business from Intel, established foundation for mass-production using EUV at the M16 fab, joined the RE100 initiative, and continued preparation of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster project.

CEO Lee concluded the report by highlighting the targets for this year to ensure that these achievements pave way for SK hynix’s sustainable growth. The targets include maximizing the market position for high value-added strategic products based on quality competitiveness, improving production efficiency by building smart fab environment, innovating cost structure through increasing efficiency of investment and asset, successfully implementing the first stage of the Intel NAND and SSD business acquisition contract, and enhancing fundamental capabilities to create synergy.

CEO Lee Shares Financial Story with Shareholders as “The Exciting Vision of the Future”

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“SK hynix will evolve into a ‘Great Company’ that contributes to humanity and society with technology.”

At today’s General Shareholders Meeting, CEO Lee presented the “Financial Story” along with the company’s future vision.

CEO Lee said, “The goal of ‘boosting the corporate value to KRW 100 trillion’ that I presented when I was appointed as CEO two years ago was achieved earlier this year, earlier than expected. Now, we want to aim higher. Based on the Financial Story, we will promote the company’s growth with two main pillars of DRAM and NAND Flash, and accelerate the growth of shareholder value.”

Major affiliates of SK Group are communicating with their stakeholders to incorporate SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-Won’s “Financial Story” into the companies’ future growth direction. SK hynix reflected in this story its direction of enhancing the corporate value by focusing on ESG management, while strengthening the competitiveness in the DRAM and NAND Flash businesses. CEO Lee said, “We will focus on creating social values on top of economic values.”

CEO Lee announced that the company will focus on improving the profitability of the NAND business, in terms of economic values. SK hynix invested in KIOXIA Holdings Corporation (formerly Toshiba Memory) in 2018 and signed a contract to acquire the NAND and SSD business of Intel in October 2020. Regarding this contract, CEO Lee said, “As SK hynix has strength in mobile NAND Flash and Intel in enterprise SSD (eSSD), potential synergy is expected from this acquisition. The completion of the acquisition process will allow us to leap forward to becoming one of the global leaders in the NAND business, as well as DRAM business.”

In addition, CEO Lee presented SSD as an example of business that can create both economic and social values. CEO Lee said, “If hard disk drives (HDDs), one of the representative storage devices, are entirely replaced with low-power SSDs, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 93%. As well as economic values created through the technological prowess of SSDs, social values can be created by contributing to solving environmental problems.

At the shareholders meeting, CEO Lee also introduced the direction for the future investment. He announced that the company will invest intensively in three areas including R&D, ESG management, and discovery of future growth sources.

CEO Lee said, “SK hynix is envisioning a plan to establish infrastructure for intensive R&D development in various regions including the U.S. and Europe. In terms of strengthening ESG management, we will faithfully prepare for RE100 initiative, a goal to procure 100% of the power consumed with renewable energy, and the ‘Carbon Net Zero’ declaration. Also, the company will discover and invest in promising companies in the innovative fields like AI, autonomous driving, and 5G.”

Finally, CEO Lee stressed that SK hynix will prepare new growth sources thoroughly while pursuing ESG, and urged the shareholder to join “the journey of SK hynix growing into a ‘Great Company’”.

Shareholders Welcome Online Meeting As CEO Gives Answers Directly

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SK hynix also listened to shareholders’ opinions proactively, by receiving questions in advance from those who attended the meeting remotely.

Many of the questions that arrived in advance included inquiries about the company’s dividend policy. Regarding this, CEO Lee said, “The ‘2019-2021 Dividend Policy’ informed through the public notice in January 2020 specifies that, in each fiscal year, the company will provide cash dividend that includes 5% of the free cash flow (the calculation standard is established by excluding the acquisition amount of tangible assets from the operating cash flows in the consolidated cash flow statement) created during the year, in addition to the fixed dividend of KRW 1,000 per share. Until the dividend at the end of the term of 2021, the company plans to calculate the dividend in accordance with that policy. For the dividend policy after that, we will transparently communicate with shareholders, by comprehensively considering and reviewing the industry conditions, earnings volatility, and the possibility of shareholders’ dividend predictions.”

There were also many questions on the likely positive effects of the planned completion of the deal to acquire Intel’s NAND and SSD business. CEO Lee answered the questions in accordance with his explanation of the Financial Story.

One of the shareholders who attended the online meeting said, “I was very hesitant to go to the meeting due to COVID-19, but was able to attend it online for the first time. I appreciate that the CEO answered my questions directly, and the fact that even a minority shareholder like myself could exercise shareholder rights easily via electronic voting.”

The post SK hynix holds General Shareholders Meeting Online and Offline Simultaneously to Share ‘Financial Story’ and Willingness to Increase Shareholder Value first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Top executives of SK hynix including CEO Seok-hee Lee set out to actively promote the company’s Financial Story¹.

On March 22 (Korea Standard Time), CEO Seok-hee Lee gave a keynote speech to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) and shared with the industry experts the Financial Story pursued by SK hynix. For 59 years, IEEE IRPS (https://irps.org/) has been the prestigious premiere conference for engineers and scientists in the microelectronics field such as semiconductors, communications and systems from the United States, Europe, Asia, and all other parts of the world to present new and original work in the areas of reliability.

CEO Seok-hee Lee, who has received the Distinctive Exemplary Industry Leader Award for 2020 from the IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc) in January, gave a keynote speech on the theme of “Memory’s Journey towards the Future Information & Communications Technology World”. In this keynote speech delivered in a video, CEO Lee presented prospects on the future of semiconductors amid the upcoming changes in the ICT industry. He also announced SK hynix’s strong will to develop technologies considering the scaling, social, and smart values to pursue both economic value (EV) and social value (SV) at the same time for a better ICT world.

“Semiconductor Memory is the Center of the Future ICT World and We Will Make a Better World through Advanced Technology”

CEO Seok-hee Lee began his keynote speech by introducing the accelerated digital transformation of the 4th Industrial Revolution due to COVID-19. As non-face-to-face activities including ICT-based remote education and telecommuting have become a large part of everyday life, the use of data has rapidly increased recently.² In particular, with the advances in new technologies such as 5G, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence (AI), the amount of data generated and consumed in real-time is showing an explosive increase. Accordingly, the global data center market continues to grow and the demand for DRAM and NAND, which are essential for this growth, is expected to increase significantly.³

Semiconductor Memories, which used to be simply used for servers, PCs, and mobile devices, are now expanding and diversifying in terms of their functions amid various technological innovations. CEO Lee emphasized that, for this reason, semiconductor memories will play a role beyond storing and processing information in the future, as the core of the future ICT world.

Also, CEO Lee explained that achieving a high level of reliability is important to realize technological innovation suitable for the smart ICT environment in the “digital transformation of the 4th industrial revolution”, while the existing semiconductor memory industry has been mainly focusing on implementing “high density, high speed, and low power” to respond to various applications and customer needs so far.

In addition, CEO Lee said that as now is the time for companies to take the lead in resolving pain points of the stakeholders – in other words, various social problems such as energy shortage and climate change – the semiconductor memory industry is facing the needs of times to create a better future through technology in addition to the traditional values that have been provided until now.

Furthermore, SK hynix emphasized its will to create a better world through advanced technology by pursuing the Financial Story and encouraged all members of the semiconductor ecosystem to interest, support, and participate.

“In the era of fierce competition for miniaturization, the matters of technology completion and productivity were dealt with through vertical relations with suppliers. Now, however, is the time when various partners building the semiconductor industry ecosystem must form a cooperative partnership. Only by establishing a strategic partnership for Open Innovation4 based on collaboration and sharing with customers, suppliers, academia and government, we can shape a new era, which pursues both economic and social value.

SK hynix will take the initiative in enhancing the quality of our lives, solving environmental issues, and pursuing the happiness of our employees and stakeholders. We will incorporate scaling, social and smart value to the technology development to achieve the ultimate goal of making a better ICT world. We ask for your interest, support, and hopefully, your participation in pursuing social values and actively responding to the needs of the era with technology.”

“Realizing Scaling, Social, and Smart Values is the Prerequisite for the Semiconductor Technology Development”

CEO Lee shared various management strategies that SK hynix is preparing to create a better future through technology. In particular, he highlighted that the three values of scaling value, social value, and smart value will lead the development of semiconductor technology in the era of digital transformation. He also announced plans to enhance reliability, as well as various efforts that SK hynix is making in each field.

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“Scaling Value” means satisfying the needs of industries and customers by solving the problems of innovation and reliability in materials and structures for the evolution of DRAM and NAND technologies.

CEO Lee introduced some key tasks for DRAM and NAND respectively to achieve this goal. As the key tasks, “overcoming the limitations of patterning in lithography, maintaining the capacitance of the cell capacitor, and lowering the resistance of the metal for interconnect” were mentioned for DRAM and “securing high aspect ratio contact (HARC) etching technology, securing cell dielectric characteristics, and solving film stress issues” for NAND.

In the DRAM field, SK hynix has introduced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to overcome the limitation of patterning and is making great efforts to improve productivity, such as developing materials and photoresists for stable EUV patterning and defect management. Also, in order to maintain cell capacitance (Cs), the company is trying to refine the dielectric thickness, develop new materials with high dielectric constant, and innovate the cell structure. In regards to the low resistance metal for interconnect, the company is seeking next-generation electrode and insulating materials and introducing new processes. For applications that require high reliability such as automotive semiconductors, SK hynix is applying the optimized process technology to increase the tolerance to soft errors⁵ and overcome this challenge.

In the NAND field, SK hynix is focusing on securing etching technology to implement high aspect ratio (A/R) to realize the high density technology required by the industry. Also, the company introduced the atomic layer deposition (ALD)⁶ technology to further improve the cell property of efficiently storing electric charges and exporting them when needed, while developing technology to maintain uniform electric charges over a certain amount through the innovation of dielectric materials. In addition to this, to solve film stress issues⁷, the mechanical stress levels of films is controlled and the cell oxide-nitride (ON)⁸ material is being optimized. To deal with the interference phenomenon between cells and charge loss that occur when more cells are stacked at a limited height, SK hynix developed the isolated-charge trap nitride (isolated-CTN)⁹ structure to enhance reliability.

CEO Lee said, “We are improving materials and design structures for technical evolution in each field of DRAM and NAND, and solving the reliability problems step by step. If the platform is innovated successfully based on this, it is possible to achieve the DRAM process below 10 nanometers (nm) and stack over 600 layers of NAND in the future.”

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“Social value” means using technology to contribute to solving various social problems such as energy, disease, and environmental problems, as well as creating economic value, and fulfilling social responsibilities through this. It is expected that environmental problems and energy shortage problems, especially climate change, will become more serious in the future. For this reason, countries in Europe, the United States, China, and many other countries have declared the goal to achieve net-zero¹⁰ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main causes of global warming.

It is indeed difficult to improve the increasingly deteriorating global environment with the current hard disk drive (HDD)-based data storage system and power generation technologies. Accordingly, CEO Lee emphasized that the semiconductor memory industry should accelerate technological innovation to focus on solving these problems.

If HDDs in data centers around the world are replaced with low-power PLC/QLC-based solid-state drives (SSDs), greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by approximately 41 million tons, based on business as usual (BAU)¹¹ estimates and this can create social values worth more than USD 3.8 billion.

With the social demand to compute explosively increasing data at a high speed and low power, computing and memory systems are changing as well. Accordingly, CEO Lee explained that the memory is developing into a heterogeneous memory technology that is more specialized in a single characteristic such as speed or low power. Some of the representative memory solutions are High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM)¹² for high-speed processing, Ultra-low Power Memory (ULM)¹³ that consumes much less power, and Compute Express Link (CXL)¹⁴, interface solution memory that is newly emerging.

CEO Lee emphasized that social responsibility through semiconductor technology does not end here. He said, “If we were to follow the current path based on the current solution alone, soon, we will reach the first critical point. So, to delay reaching the critical point, convergence solutions suitable for each era should be delivered not only to greatly reduce the energy consumption in computing but also to improve the computing performance.”

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“Smart Value” means preparing for a new, approaching era, by completing an intelligent memory solution suitable for the post-digital-transformation era. In the future, all devices will be integrated based on AI technology and smart ICT technology will be used in everything surrounding us. This means a hyper-connected era where all societies are connected faster with much less power through the convergence of semiconductors, AI, and telecommunication technologies.

To prepare for this future, CEO Lee introduced the “disruptive innovation” carried out at SK hynix at the moment and presented the direction of the evolution of memory semiconductors in the post Von Neumann era.

CEO Lee predicted that semiconductor memories will develop toward a convergence of memory and logic to overcome the performance limitations, in the era of New ICT where all devices are integrated based on AI technology. This means that some of the computing functions of the central processing unit (CPU) are given to the DRAM functions. As the speed was increased in HBM by increasing the number of channels between the CPU and the memory, the speed will increase further in PNM (Processing Near Memory), where both the CPU and the memory exist within a single module. The speed will further increase in PIM (Processing In Memory), where the CPU and the memory exists within a single package. Ultimately, speed will increase further in CIM (Computing in Memory), where the CPU and the memory is integrated within in a single die, to deliver high performance computing system.

In addition, CEO Lee predicted that the memory technology of the post Von Neumann computing era will evolve to neuromorphic semiconductors¹⁵, and storage technology into the same form as the DNA semiconductors¹⁶. He emphasized that ultra-high-speed computation and storage will become possible even with a small amount of energy human brain uses. Also, he stressed that it will become possible to enable a true smart world, where the same large amount of data can be stored and processed at low power in a small room without having to maintain a hundred thousand square meters of data centers.

CEO Lee emphasized SK hynix’s will for the future by saying, “SK hynix is preparing for the future by taking the evolutionary path and the revolutionary path to respond to changes in semiconductor memories. We will continue to incorporate the value of scaling in the conventional memory, to include social value in the next generation memory and intelligent memory, and to contain the value of smart in the post von-Neumann era.”

Jin Kook Kim, Head of R&D, and Seon Yong Cha, Head of DRAM Development Also Spread the Financial Story at Semiconductor Forums Earlier This Year

Earlier this year, Jin Kook Kim, Head of R&D, and Seon Yong Cha, Head of DRAM Development also participated in spreading the Financial Story through keynote speeches at a major semiconductor academic conference.

At the 28th Korean Conference on Semiconductors held on January 26, SK hynix’s R&D Head Jin Kook Kim gave a keynote lecture on the theme of “Future of Semiconductor Technology” and explained SK hynix’s Financial Story, as well as the strategies for the semiconductor memory business implemented by SK hynix.

“The semiconductor industry has had a traditional mission of overcoming the limitations of miniaturization and providing value for customer needs. In addition to this, I believe that the industry now faces a new mission of responding to social responsibilities including energy and environmental issues and meeting the spirit of times to create a better world through technology.”

As a technological strategy to overcome the limitations of the explosive increase in data, changes in computing and memory systems are underway. In the case of CPU, it is developing in the form of multi-core, many-core, and heterogeneous computing, which is a heterogeneous computing technology such as mixing CPU and GPU. Likewise, in the case of memory, a heterogeneous memory technology specialized for density or speed is required, instead of the previous direction for simultaneously increasing capacity and speed.

Kim said that in order to respond to these changes, SK hynix is preparing high-speed processing, low-power, and heterogeneous computing interconnect technology memories, respectively.
Also, Kim said that memory will play a key role in heterogeneous packaging or integration that combines micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, and even biochips.

Kim said, “SK hynix’s social responsibility through semiconductor technology does not stop here, but we are also making efforts for the environment and energy. SK Group has joined RE100¹⁷ for the fundamental resolution to environmental issues and plans to convert 100% of the electricity consumed to renewable energy by 2050.”

On February 3, Seon Yong Cha, SK hynix’s Head of DRAM Development gave a keynote speech on the theme of “Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability in Memory” at SEMICON KOREA 2021. During his speech, he highlighted the necessity of environmental preservation in the semiconductor industry and introduced SK hynix’s efforts to achieve this.

“Transmitting data requires a huge amount of energy. As the amount of data used increases, greenhouse gas emissions also increase as well as power consumption. As a company that develops semiconductor memories, it is essential to consider the environmental impact. Furthermore, the semiconductor industry should also further strengthen its social responsibility for environmental preservation by reducing energy consumed in the future.”

SK hynix has joined the RE100 with SK Group’s subsidiary companies for the first time in Korea and declared that it will replace all the power required in the semiconductor manufacturing process with renewable energy by 2050. Along with these efforts, SK hynix is developing semiconductor technologies including HBM, ULM, and accelerator-in-memory (AiM)¹⁸.

All of these HBM, ULM, and AiM products have a great possibility of improvement in terms of performance and power depending on how close they are to the system on chip (SoC)¹⁹ or how they converge. For this reason, SK hynix plans to expand the portfolio for this and is collaborating in different ways to develop various solution products in addition to the existing standard products.

DRAM Development Head Cha said, “To strengthen further the social responsibility for environmental preservation through energy saving, cooperation across different fields including academia, semiconductor, equipment, SoC, memory, and software is necessary, and SK hynix will actively cooperate for this.”

※ IEEE IRPS2021, https://irps.org

¹Financial Story: SK Group’s new management strategy to increase the total value that includes corporate value by presenting the growth strategy and future vision of each subsidiary company of SK to various stakeholders such as customers, investors, and the market, generating trust and sympathy. SK hynix has established and initiated in earnest its Financial Story to contribute to humanity and society by strengthening ESG while pursuing continuous business growth through DRAM and NAND as two main pillars.
²According to the “2020 4th Industrial Revolution Index” announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea in September 2020, the number of IoT device service subscriptions increased by 21.6%, from 21.44 million in June 2019 to 26.07 million, in one year. The 5G data usage increased by 2,328% in one year, from 5,938 terabytes (TB) in April 2019 to 144,192 TB.
³The industry predicts that the 5G technology, which is 10 to 100 times faster than 4G, can provide an environment where more data can be transmitted accurately and quickly. Also, it is predicted that more than 4 TB of data will be generated a day per car to implement an autonomous driving environment. Data centers around the world are expected to grow at 15% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2015 to 2025, reaching the double level in 2025 compared to the current level. In general, one data center requires 20 million gigabytes (GB) for the DRAM capacity and 750 million GB for NAND capacity.
⁴Open Innovation: It refers to a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas and technology required and share the internal resources outside the firm to create a new product or a service. The term is widely used in various fields after Professor Henry Chesbrough of UC Berkeley proposed the concept in his 2003 publication.
⁵Soft error: An error in which the data stored in the semiconductor memory changes due to energy ion collision. It is not physical damage, and the semiconductor memory operates normally when data is re-written or the device is reset. Alpha particles emitted from radioactive impurities or ionized secondary particles by external high-energy neutron reactions are the main cause.
⁶Atomic layer deposition (ALD): Nano-scale film deposition technology that uses the phenomenon where monoatomic layers are chemically attached during the semiconductor manufacturing process; through this technology, foreign materials are deposited homogenously and rapidly. By alternately absorbing and displacing molecules on a wafer surface, it is possible to realize atomic-layer thick ultra-fine layer-by-layer deposition and stack oxide and metal films as thin as possible.
⁷Film stress: A phenomenon where a wafer is bent or curled due to pressure, force, etc., applied to a specific area on the wafer surface
⁸Cell oxide-nitride: A film material that prevents electrons stored in floating gates from escaping or tunneled electrons from crossing floating gates
⁹Charge trap nitride (CTN): A layer acting as a floating gate in the 2D NAND structure; to solve the problem of the interference between cells when implementing 3D NAND, SK hynix changed the floating gate method of storing electric charges in conductors to the charge trap method of storing them in insulators.
¹⁰Net-zero: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities as much as possible and absorbing and removing remaining greenhouse gases so that actual emissions become zero.
¹¹Business as usual (BAU): A total amount of greenhouse gas expected if no artificial measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
¹²High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM): A high bandwidth product that can transmit a large amount of data at once; it can improve energy efficiency by about 40% in terms of power consumption.
¹³Ultra-low Power Memory (ULM): A product designed to replace static random-access memory (SRAM); it can increase density by 100 to 1,000 times compared to SRAM and can improve energy efficiency by four to five times compared to HBM.
¹⁴Compute Express Link (CXL) Memory: Apart from the existing memory interface, DDRx, it is a heterogeneous computing memory interface called ‘Compute Express Link’. Bandwidth & Capacity expansion memory, Persistent memory and Pooled memory can be implemented. Major Datacenter industry Eco. Players are participating in the CXL consortium.
¹⁵Neuromorphic means the form (morphic) of a neuron and a neuromorphic semiconductor imitates the structure of a cranial nerve.
¹⁶DNA semiconductor: A semiconductor that artificially implements the principle of data storage of DNA that can store about 1 billion GB of data per 1 ㎟ in theory; DNA semiconductors store data by converting the conventional data based on the binary method consisting of 0s and 1s into four base sequences of DNA: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.
¹⁷Renewable Energy 100 (RE100): A declaration to procure 100% of the power consumed with renewable energy. Renewable energy refers to wind power, geothermal heat, fuel cells, hydrogen energy, etc.; through this, companies can operate factories and produce products in a more eco-friendly way by reducing the carbon from petroleum, coal, etc., emitted to generate electricity.
¹⁸Accelerator-in-memory (AiM): A type of PIM that adopts the offloading concept that adds the roles of the existing CPU, such as computing function; into the memory, it is possible to improve the performance bottleneck caused by the memory in systems.
¹⁹System on chip (SoC): A single chip that integrates the core parts used in information and communication devices into a single semiconductor, enabling the operation functions previously performed by multiple chips, such as data storage and converting the analog and digital signal, being realized on a single chip.

The post SK hynix CEO Seok-hee Lee Talks about the Future of Semiconductor Memory and SK hynix’s Management Strategy first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

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“People say sleep is better than medicine, but I can’t sleep much these days.”
It was the first word of CEO Seok-hee Lee we met in his office. He is busier than ever with his tight schedule, such as overseas business trips and external and internal meetings, to find new business opportunities in the rapidly changing domestic and foreign environment these days. He joked that he did not sleep well as he returned in the morning from an overseas business trip even on the day of the interview. He did seem tired, but he gave an earnist and witty interview. He also made the most out of his short time, showing himself honestly and throwing important messages.

Leader who breaks through the front with technology competitiveness

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Seok-hee Lee, who took office as CEO in last December, is about to celebrate the first anniversary of his inauguration. As the external environment changed rapidly, huge projects to influence our future were completed, such as the start of M16 fab, completion of C2F fab in China and P&T4 fab in Icheon, Korea, and the signing of an agreement to build a semiconductor cluster in Yongin, Korea. Although he had to have a more dynamic time than ever, his words were surprisingly calm.

“It feels the last 10 months have passed faster than ever of the last seven years I spent at SK hynix,” he said. “All new projects for the company’s mid- and long-term future made a soft landing, paving the way for our leap forward. The “changes” we have stedaily emphsized have led to great results, and it feels very rewarding and fulfilling.”

This year, semiconductor companies are suffering from intensifying competition and fluctuating demand, along with external conditions such as global trade issues. CEO Seok-hee Lee gave candid answers to such sensitive business-related questions.

“We are responding appropriately to weak demand and oversupply issues through flexible investment and production adjustments. At the same time, we are focusing on fundamental improvement. In the past, technology development and product delivery based on specific devices were necessary, but now the market is shifting to derivative products that require a variety of performance and power characteristics for each customer. Internally, we are defining this change as a “product-centric business system” and working to change the role of each organization and how it works accordingly.”

He added that, while the influence of international conflicts is a factor difficult to predict and control, he is doing his best to minimize any impact of such external variables on the business. In addition, he presented a clear direction for making SK hynix that is not swayed by external variables in the future.
“The best strategy to minimize the impact of external variables is to strengthen the fundamentals. As the economy worsens, we need to focus on technology development to make quality products and try to cut costs. That way we can move ahead fast when the economy recovers. We’re still using a lot of energy to prepare for the future.”

Amid the fast-changing environment, SK hynix is steadily enhancing its technology competitiveness to prepare for the future. This year, these efforts have led to notable achievements, such as the world’s first 128-layer 1Tb TLC 4D NAND and HBM2E DRAM.

A leader who always communicates and leads the pursuit of happiness

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SK hynix CEO Seok-hee Lee aims to create greater happiness through “communication” instead of focusing only on “performance.” It is part of his effort to continue to meet customers and directly listen to their voices, as well as to consistently spend time with diverse members of SK hynix, since his took office.

The area that CEO Seok-hee Lee is most interested in recently is the happiness of the employees, and he is communicating with them in new ways. He has also created rules of practice to get closer to the members. First, he abolished a dress code for executives and removed unnecessary protocol.

“It is said that the more difficult the situation gets, the more quality communication is needed. As long as there are challenges and higher goals, I will never neglect to continue to communicate with our members and work harder for happiness together. If I keep expanding communication with the members and doing small things one by one, won’t the happiness index of the members continue to rise?”

To the last question to define “Seok-hee Lee as the leader of SK hynix,” the CEO answered that he was a “representative member of SK hynix in pursuit of happiness.”

“Even though I’m in a poistion to be responsible for important company decisions, the days of top-down decision making are already over. I believe that the real change can occur when members do their best in their roles, and when it becomes a culture of the company. So I always emphasize that, as a representative member of the company, I should talk together with and persuade our members to change and participate, even if it takes a long time.”

The post Interview with SK hynix CEO Seok-hee Lee, “curiosity has shaped me” first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Today, hynix Semiconductor Inc., ( hynix, www.hynix.com ) announced that its Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Dr. C.S. Park as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

At the same time, the board has announced the appointment of Mr. Sang Park, the current Chief Operating Officer as the new President and CEO. In addition, Dr. Y.W. Jun, the current outside director has been elected as the new Chairman of the board.

Meanwhile, hynix board has established a new office for a divesture of non-memory business. The office will be spearheaded by the company’s former CEO, Dr. C.S. Park.

The post hynix appoints its new CEO first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

According to Dr. Park, Hyundai Electronics will focus efforts to achieve the following: raise the competitiveness of its core businesses, restructure its organization while evolving its corporate culture, and dramatically improve its infrastructure through the use of technology. Dr. Park characterized the 21st century as the Global and Digital Era, and asked for continued active participation from employees to implement his vision. “The new era of digital information is opening new opportunities and changing the way we do business,” said Dr. Park “Through technology mediums such as Internet, many formerly segmented markets are now merging into one global market. This is increasing the competition, elevating the need for access to valuable information, and making it more important than ever before to attract and retain the skilled employees who are so essential to our success. In response, we as an organization must change our style of business management to meet the new requirements of the Global and Digital Era.” Dr. Park added that he intends to help Hyundai Electronics become “the best company to work for, the best company to invest in, and the best company to do business with.” Dr. Park highlighted his strategy for effecting improvements in various core businesses. In the Memory Business Unit, Hyundai Electronics will step up efforts to expand its SRAM, Flash, and System IC Business in order to diversify its product line. The following tactics will be employed help the organization become the best and the most efficient among its competitors: Leverage the synergy resulting from the merger with LG Semicon Improve the profit margin Develop a time-to-market strategy Increase the efficiency of inventory management In the midst of the Internet and telecommunications explosion, Hyundai Electronics Telecommunications will invest heavily in IMT-2000, the next-generation code division multiple access (CDMA) based wireless systems. Dr. Park also challenged the managers of Hyundai Electronics’ Memory and Telecommunications Business Units to create added value in their products by sharing one another’s technology and business information. For the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Business Unit, Dr. Park reiterated Hyundai Electronics’ commitment to become a world-class supplier in this arena through investments in manufacturing facilities and research and development (R&D). Dr. Park plans to implement faster and more efficient business management in order to increase Hyundai’s productivity and raise shareholder earnings. To encourage innovative employee contributions, achievement-based salary and bonus programs will be implemented. Dr. Park said Hyundai Electronics will continue its effort to be “lean and flexible.” By integrating an e-business model and other advanced technology, he expects to improve employee productivity without increasing headcount while reducing the company’s overall cost structure. Dr. Park added that information management will be a key factor in staying ahead of the competition. About Hyundai Electronics¢â Hyundai Electronics is an industry leader in the development, manufacture, sales, marketing, and distribution of high-quality Semiconductors (including DRAM, SRAM, Flash memory, and System IC devices), Telecommunications, and Liquid Crystal Displays. In addition, HyundaiR is expanding its System IC business unit with leading technology and added deep-submicron foundry services to strategically broaden its overall semiconductor presence and achieve its goal of leading the global semiconductor market. The Semiconductor Group of Hyundai Electronics is the world’s largest DRAM supplier with eleven semiconductor manufacturing facilities world wide, and production capacity of over 300,000 wafer starts per month. Based in Korea, Hyundai maintains development, manufacturing, sales and marketing facilities strategically worldwide. Hyundai Electronics America (HEA) is a U.S. subsidiary of Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. HEA is headquartered at 3101 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95134. More information on Hyundai Electronics America and its products is available from the company’s web site at http://www.hea.com. Hyundai Electronics is a trademark, and Hyundai is a registered trademark of Hyundai Electronics America. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The post New CEO Articulates Hyundai Electronics’ Strategy for Success in the 21st Century first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.