SEOUL, Jan 28, 2026, 00:12 (KST)
- SK Hynix said it is considering setting up a U.S.-based unit focused on artificial intelligence investment after a local media report.
- Maeil Business Newspaper said the arm could oversee about 10 trillion won ($6.92 billion) of overseas AI-related assets held by SK Group affiliates.
- The company said it is reviewing options and has not made a final decision.
SK Hynix said it is considering establishing a U.S.-based unit focused on artificial intelligence investment, after a local media report said the company was preparing an American subsidiary for that work. Maeil Business Newspaper said the unit could manage about 10 trillion won ($6.92 billion) in AI-related assets held overseas by SK Group affiliates. (Reuters)
The move matters now because the race to build AI systems is turning memory into a bottleneck. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is a stacked form of DRAM that sits close to AI processors and helps move data fast while keeping power use down. Macquarie Equity Research put SK Hynix’s HBM market share last year at 61%, ahead of Samsung Electronics and Micron, Reuters reported earlier this month. (Reuters)
Maeil Business described the proposed U.S. entity as a group “control tower” for AI investments, meant to speed decisions by pooling overseas holdings in one place. The paper said the assets could include SK and SK Innovation’s stake in TerraPower, a U.S. nuclear company that works on small modular reactors — smaller reactors designed to be built in factory-like modules — as power demand rises alongside data centres. (매일경제)
SK Hynix, in a regulatory filing, said it was weighing “various measures” after the report, including setting up a subsidiary for AI investment, but stressed it had not finalised a plan. (MarketScreener)
The talk landed on a strong day for Korean equities. SK hynix surged 8.7% to close at 800,000 won, while the Kospi ended up 2.73% at 5,084.85, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Samsung Securities analyst Lee Jong-wook said “rising DRAM prices will drive share price gains in the first half.” (Korea Joongang Daily)
The broader competitive backdrop is tightening. Micron is set to announce new memory-chip capacity investment in Singapore, sources told Reuters, as AI service providers and electronics makers grapple with a severe global shortage of memory chips. Micron is also building a $7 billion advanced packaging plant for HBM in Singapore that is due to start production in 2027, Reuters said. (Reuters)
SK Hynix has been moving to add capacity at home as well. “We have to support memory consumption for AI infrastructure,” said Sungsoo Ryu, CEO of SK Hynix America, in an interview with Reuters this month, as he outlined plans to bring forward factory start dates and ramp HBM output. (Reuters)
But the investment-unit idea is still fluid, and the company has not committed to a structure or timetable. The backdrop is also noisy: U.S. tariff threats have kept South Korea’s policymakers and exporters on edge, and former trade negotiator Choi Seok-young told Reuters the tariff hike talk could be “a political move” aimed at extracting concessions. (Reuters)
