Chey Tae-won

Stories

South Korea directs $880 billion private buildout into chips and AI data centers

Committing SK Hynix and SK to chips and data centers

South Korea's chip buildout is producing contracts on several fronts. On November 2, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said the three mega projects total 1,600 trillion won, about 60% of GDP in the year work starts, and promised faster permits to bring fab start-ups forward by more than two years. Samsung and SK Hynix have signed long-term memory supply deals with customers, and OpenAI's Sam Altman visited Seoul to talk with SK Group about HBM and data centers.

Updated Nov 2

SK Hynix debuts on Nasdaq in largest US listing by a foreign company

Money Moves

As of July 2026: Backed the listing; attended the debut

SK Hynix rang the Nasdaq opening bell on July 10 and raised about $26.5 billion. No foreign company has ever raised more in a US share sale.

Updated Jul 10