Chey Taewon: "Beyond AI Semiconductors to Services"... Building an 'AI Flywheel'

About 50 SK CEOs discuss future growth strategies over three days and two nights
Expanding businesses beyond AI semiconductors, infrastructure and energy to services
Continuing Portfolio Rebalancing 2.0 and practical AI transformation

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed the need to build an “AI flywheel,” a virtuous cycle in which growth creates further growth, as the era of artificial intelligence (AI) begins. The plan is to secure new growth drivers by expanding the Group’s business beyond AI semiconductors, infrastructure and energy to include AI models and services.

SK Group said on November 15 that it had held its “2026 CEO Seminar” at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, from November 12 to 14 to discuss future growth strategies. Attendees included Chairman Chey, Vice Chairman Choi Jae-won, Choi Chang-won, chairman of the SK Supex Council, and about 50 chief executives from major affiliates.

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers a keynote address at the 2026 CEO Seminar, held at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 14th. SK Supex Council

The central theme of the seminar was the “AI flywheel” strategy. The structure is designed so that AI semiconductor competitiveness drives growth in the AI factory business, while the expansion of AI factories generates demand for power, energy and AI services. The supply of energy and broader adoption of AI services, in turn, create a virtuous cycle that accelerates the development of AI factories and innovation in semiconductor technology.

SK Group plans to use this strategy as a foundation to enter the “token economy” market, where AI computing and services are traded for economic value. To this end, all affiliates agreed to look beyond the boundaries of their existing businesses to identify and pursue new business opportunities.

“We need to break out of the mold of our existing businesses and redefine ourselves as an ‘AI company,’” Chey said. “Let’s have every member company find a new role in opportunities we have yet to discover beyond our existing domains, and build an ‘AI flywheel’ that connects those roles to AI services and the token economy.”

He added, “In the AI era, no one can do everything alone. It is essential to strengthen our capabilities and move faster through open collaboration with global partners.”

On November 14, the final day of the seminar, Chey delivered the keynote address and then held in-depth discussions with executives on future growth strategies. The executives exchanged ideas about one another’s businesses, looking beyond the perspectives of their respective affiliates, and reviewed new business opportunities and potential risks.

The Group also decided to continue strengthening financial soundness and restructuring its businesses. SK Group plans to pursue “Portfolio Rebalancing 2.0,” which involves exiting unprofitable businesses and boosting the competitiveness of core businesses, while balancing financial soundness with future investment on the basis of its cash-generating capacity.

SK Group will also expand “practical AI transformation (AX),” which combines on-site expertise with data, across all its affiliates. SK hynix is using AI and digital twins to improve semiconductor production efficiency, while SK Innovation is connecting equipment and operations data at its Ulsan petrochemical complex to improve yields. SK Telecom and SK Gas are also pursuing work automation and more efficient decision-making using AI.

An SK official said, “This CEO Seminar was an opportunity to reflect on the process of improving our business fundamentals and review each member company’s role and action items under the ‘AI flywheel’ strategy. We will continue to strengthen our core competitiveness and execution capabilities by building on our frontline operations.”

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