SK Group ramps up AI investment

SK Group has launched a large-scale, groupwide investment push aimed at securing a stronger foothold in the global artificial intelligence race. Major affiliates, including the holding company SK Inc. and SK Innovation, have approved capital contributions to a new AI investment entity to be established in the United States, underscoring the conglomerate’s coordinated effort to identify new growth engines.

According to industry officials Tuesday, SK Inc., the group’s holding company, has decided to invest $250 million in SK hynix NAND Product Solutions. SK Innovation had earlier approved an additional $380 million investment. Together, the two commitments amount to $630 million in funding. Other core affiliates are also expected to finalize their own AI-related investment plans in the near future.

At the center of the initiative is a new U.S.-based entity tentatively referred to as the “AI Company,” which SK hynix plans to establish with a $10 billion investment. The plan calls for restructuring the existing subsidiary Solidigm and transforming its parent company into a corporate vehicle responsible for overseeing AI investments. While SK hynix will spearhead the group’s AI strategy in the United States, SK Innovation, traditionally focused on refining and petrochemicals, and the group’s holding company are also participating in the investment. The move signals SK Group’s determination to concentrate its resources on artificial intelligence.

SK Group’s major affiliates are committing capital on this scale as part of a broader effort to evolve beyond the role of a component supplier and become a “solution partner” across the entire AI data center ecosystem. The new AI entity plans to identify and invest directly in U.S. companies that possess key capabilities in artificial intelligence.

An SK Group official said the joint investment reflects a strategic decision by major affiliates to support the conglomerate’s AI-centered growth strategy while securing early access to promising opportunities in the market.


이동훈 기자 dhlee@donga.com