[Click eStock] "SK Draws Attention as Large-Scale Group Investments Continue... Target Price Raised"

Hanwha Investment & Securities Raises SK Target Price to 910,000 Won
"Role of Holding Company as Group Coordinator Set to Grow"

On June 30, Hanwha Investment & Securities raised its target price for SK from 8.1 million won to 9.1 million won, maintaining its 'Buy' investment opinion. The company cited the increased attention on the holding company as SK Group continues to announce large-scale investment plans.

Last year, SK Group announced plans to establish an Ulsan AI Data Center in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). In addition, following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Korea in June, SK announced it would work with Nvidia to build an AI factory.

The previous day, at the “Korea Grand Leap: Three Mega Projects National Briefing” presided over at the Blue House, the group announced a total investment plan of 2,100 trillion won. Specifically, SK Group said it intends to invest 1,100 trillion won in semiconductor production facilities and 1,000 trillion won in a 15GW AI data center over the long term.

Jinhyup Lee, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities, stated, “From a top-down perspective, building AI infrastructure requires the overall capabilities of SK Group, beyond just SK hynix.” For example, building an AI data center would require high-tech EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) capabilities from SK Ecoplant, AI data center operation expertise from SK Telecom, energy infrastructure expansion from energy affiliates such as SK Innovation, SK Gas, and their SMR (small modular reactor) partner TerraPower, as well as system construction and AX capabilities from SK AX.

Lee added, “Because investment decisions are being made from a top-down approach, the role of the holding company as a coordinator—in terms of division of roles among affiliates, synergy creation, and funding—is inevitably growing. The resulting benefits will also be concentrated at SK, the holding company, through expansion of the overall portfolio’s net asset value (NAV).”

He further commented, “The recent spate of large-scale investment announcements is another reason to pay attention to the holding company, and is expected to contribute to a reduction in the discount rate.”

Hanwha Investment & Securities forecast SK’s second-quarter results as sales of 39.35 trillion won (up 30.6% year-on-year) and operating profit of 1.453 trillion won (up 122.1%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.