SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has ordered the group's vice chairmen to conduct in-depth one-on-one interviews with all of SK hynix's roughly 250 executives, according to sources. Analysts say Chey has taken an extraordinary step to diagnose and overhaul management as he seeks to establish SK hynix (000660.KS) as a premier company with a market value of 2,000 trillion won. The move also reflects Chey's determination to throw his full weight behind SK hynix as the group's flagship, after designating artificial intelligence and semiconductors as the group's core growth pillars, observers said.
SK Group's vice chairmen have been conducting individual interviews with all SK hynix executives since August, business sources said on the 17th. Taking part are key figures with deep experience and global perspective within the group, including Yoo Jeong-joon, vice chairman for the Americas, Suh Jin-woo, vice chairman for China, and Lee Hyung-hee, vice chairman of SK Inc. The interviews cover some 250 SK hynix executives at the president level and above the head-of-unit level as of the end of June, excluding outside directors and the chief executive.
The vice chairmen are listening directly to difficulties on the business front lines and proposed improvements, providing tailored leadership coaching and asking executives about strategies to cement the company's leadership in the AI chip market. Business circles see the effort as a repeat, 14 years later, of Chey's decisive move in 2012, when he met one-on-one with every Hynix executive shortly after the acquisition to set medium- and long-term strategy and lay the groundwork for the company's success in high-bandwidth memory.
Business circles also read symbolic meaning into the interviews with all executives. SK, once built around energy and telecommunications, formed a three-pronged structure by acquiring the chipmaker Hynix. Now the group is positioning Hynix, which is expected to post more than 250 trillion won in operating profit this year, as its clear No. 1.
The findings from the interviews are expected to be selected as action items and pursued on an ongoing basis to help SK hynix join the ranks of the world's leading companies. The SK AI Summit, previously held in early November each year, has been pushed back to the first half of next year, a shift seen as allowing management to focus entirely on internal reorganization and rebuilding the company's future lineup at year-end.
