SK Group to hold CEO seminar this week to map out AI strategy for next year

Top executives from SK Group's major affiliates will gather for three days to discuss business strategy for next year and medium- to long-term growth plans. With the group's roughly three-year portfolio rebalancing effort having made substantial progress, securing AI-driven growth engines is expected to dominate the agenda.

SK Group will hold its CEO seminar from Wednesday to Friday at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, according to business circles. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won and SK Supex Council Chairman Chey Chang-won are expected to attend alongside chief executives from major affiliates.

The CEO seminar is the group's premier annual forum where top management reviews the year's business performance and maps out medium- to long-term strategy. It ranks alongside the management strategy conference held each June and the Icheon Forum in August as one of SK Group's three major strategy meetings, and serves as the key event for shaping the following year's business direction. This year, SK merged the management strategy conference and the Icheon Forum into a single event — the "New Icheon Forum" — held last June.

The seminar features internal presentations and discussions as well as lectures by outside experts. Executives newly appointed in the leadership reshuffle carried out late last month will attend the seminar for the first time, joining discussions on the group's key issues and business direction for next year. Those executives have been reviewing the operational status and management priorities of their respective affiliates ahead of the event.

AI is expected to be the central theme of this year's seminar. Since SK Supex Council Chairman Chey Chang-won took office, SK Group has pursued rebalancing, operational improvement and AI as its three core management priorities. With portfolio restructuring and operational efficiency efforts now largely on track, AI is expected to carry the greatest weight. Discussion is likely to go beyond positioning AI as a shared growth engine at the group level, focusing on how each affiliate can integrate it into its core business to generate tangible results and revenue.

With SK hynix having secured a leading position in the global AI memory market on the strength of HBM, attention is turning to how that semiconductor-driven competitiveness can be extended across the group. As AI industry growth rapidly drives up demand for data centers and power infrastructure, the seminar may explore a group-wide collaboration strategy linking SK hynix's memory capabilities, SK Telecom's AI data center business and SK Innovation's energy operations.

AI data center operations require capabilities not only in semiconductors and telecommunications but also in energy — including power supply and cooling. SK Group's LNG power generation, power solutions, energy storage systems and immersion cooling technology could be linked to AI infrastructure projects, potentially expanding synergies among affiliates. Alongside new AI business opportunities, operational improvement measures are also expected to be on the table.

The results of the rebalancing drive and its remaining tasks are also expected to feature prominently on the agenda. Since late 2023, SK Group has moved quickly to restructure its business portfolio in response to slowing electric vehicle demand, global economic uncertainty and the financial burden of large-scale investment. The effort centered on consolidating overlapping businesses, divesting non-core assets and realigning operations among affiliates to improve investment efficiency and financial health.

The most significant changes came in energy and batteries. During this period, SK Innovation merged with SK E&S, and SK On was integrated with SK Trading International and SK Enterm. This year, restructuring continued with SK Inc.'s sale of its stake in SK Siltron and SK Innovation's absorption merger of SK ie technology. SK Group is expected to shift its focus from completing the restructuring to generating concrete results, while discussions on securing future growth engines to sustain that momentum are anticipated to be wide-ranging.

In practice, the group has been moving quickly to deepen its expertise in semiconductors and AI. SK Telecom established SK Hyper in July to lead large-scale AI data center development, and in August decided to spin off SK Broadband's data center and submarine cable businesses into a new entity, SK Horizon. SK hynix also announced plans in January to establish a US-based AI investment vehicle, HYAICO Corporation, with a commitment of up to $10 billion. Chairman Chey will serve as board chairman and take direct charge of executing the investment strategy to expand global AI infrastructure businesses, including AI factories.