SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee vowed to become a leader of the global NAND flash market leader following the DRAM market by creating synergies between SK Hynix and the NAND flash unit of Intel, which the company has acquired.

"We can maximize synergies because SK Hynix has strengths in the NAND mobile segment while Intel is strong in the eSSD segment," Lee said at a shareholders' meeting held at the company’s main office in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province on March 30.

"After the acquisition of the NAND flash business from Intel, we will be able to take off in the global NAND flash market as we did in the global DRAM industry." SK Hynix announced in October 2020 that it would take over Intel’s NAND flash business. The acquisition plan has already been reviewed by U.S. regulatory authorities.

"When I took office as CEO two years ago, one of the goals I suggested was to attain 100 trillion won in corporate value. We achieved this goal early this year,” Lee said. "Now, SK Hynix will aim higher. We will focus on expanding our wings -- DRAM and NAND flash businesses and increasing shareholder value based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) management.”

Lee cited solid state drives (SSDs) as an example business where SK Hynix can simultaneously realize economic and social values. "If we replace all of hard disk drives (HDDs) with low-power SSDs, we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 93 percent," Lee said. "We can create social value by contributing to solving environmental problems."

Lee also explained three directions for intensive investment -- R&D, ESG management, and future growth engines. "We are planning to create R&D infrastructure in various regions such as the United States and Europe," Lee said. "We will also faithfully promote the RE100 and Net Zero Carbon."

Regarding the discovery of future growth engines, Lee said the company will find and invest in promising companies in various fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and 5G.