"Surprised by the high understanding of semiconductor technology... Felt like he studied a lot"... "Trusts management and doesn't interfere, allowing for candid one-on-one meetings" [FN Industry Research 'Chey Tae-won Leadership']

"Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, has a level of understanding of semiconductor technology comparable to Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. If Jensen Huang scores 80-90 points, Chairman Chey scores around 70 points."

Kim Jeong-ho, a professor of electrical and electronic engineering at KAIST, known as the "father of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)," said in an interview with Financial News on the 22nd, "I had the opportunity to meet Chairman Chey twice, and each time I was surprised by how well he knew about semiconductor technology," he said. Professor Kim is known for inventing the basic structure of HBM, earning him the title "father of HBM." He said, "Last year, I had the opportunity to listen to Chairman Chey's lecture at a forum," adding, "When I heard him talk about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), I felt he had studied a lot. You can tell from the content of his presentation," he said.

Professor Kim particularly gave high marks to Chairman Chey for 'telling his own story.' He said, "He wasn't reading what the executive team or planning department had written for him, but he was telling his own story," adding, "For example, 'The future is the AI era, and AI semiconductors determine performance,' 'To have AI supremacy, a data center is needed,' 'The bottleneck in data needs to be solved,' and so on. I also remember him talking about the importance of cooling technology due to high power consumption in semiconductors," he emphasized. He evaluated Chairman Chey as being 'sincere about semiconductors.' Professor Kim said, "Chairman Chey graduated from the Department of Physics," adding, "So he seems to have a quick understanding of semiconductors and technical aspects."

Hyun Soon-yeop, the former head of SK Hynix's Corporate Culture Center (Vice President), who worked in SK Group's Corporate Planning Office from 2013 to 2019, also told us, "I remember the 'one-on-one' meetings with the chairman during my tenure," adding, "It was a meeting where the owner and executives could have candid conversations, and the only question was 'What should SK Hynix do well in the future?'" he recalled. He said, "The meeting continued with questions following one after another," adding, "The most important thing is that 'Speak up' (free expression of opinions) from the bottom up is possible," he said. He then mentioned 'trust.' He said, "The chairman trusts the management (C-level) and doesn't interfere," adding, "Reports are received, but no directives come down from the group based on them. Of course, he might call someone personally to talk, but those below felt that he truly trusted them, and that has become the foundation for today's success," he emphasized.


kjh0109@fnnews.com Kwon Jun-ho Reporter