Park Jeong-ho, Vice Chairman and CEO of SK Hynix, argued that AI chatbots will contribute to the exponential increase in global data generation, storage, and processing volume, and will become a new killer application for semiconductor demand.

Park Jeong-ho, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of SK Hynix, delivered a keynote speech on the theme of "The Path Forward for Korean Semiconductors in the AI Era" at the academic symposium commemorating the opening of Hallym University's Doheon Institute of Science, held at the Press Center in Gwanghwamun, Seoul on the 15th.

Vice Chairman Park emphasized that memory semiconductors will always be at the center of technological innovation in the AI era.

In particular, it was mentioned that memory semiconductors played a pivotal role in the evolution of IT technology.

Citing the iPhone as a representative example, it was mentioned that when the iPod, the predecessor of the iPhone, was first released, it used a hard disk drive (HDD) as a storage device, but as memory technology advanced, NAND memory replaced the HDD, leading to the innovation of smartphones.

He went on to say that the AI era is now in full swing, and that many big tech companies are jumping into AI chatbot services, starting with the conversational AI 'ChatGPT', which has recently been at the center of attention.

Furthermore, in the future, this field will be a new source of semiconductor demandIt was emphasized that the possibility of it becoming a new 'killer application' is emerging.

It is predicted that global data generation, storage, and throughput will increase exponentially as the AI era, including ChatGPT, unfolds and related technologies evolve.

Amidst this trend, Vice Chairman Park mentioned that HBM, the world's first high-speed DRAM developed by SK Hynix, is playing a significant role in the technological evolution of the AI era.

SK Hynix possesses top-tier competitiveness, including being the first in the world to mass-produce HBM3 and supply it to Nvidia, and the company leads the industry in the HBM2E and HBM3 sectors with a dominant market share.

HBM3, the latest generation of HBM, has a data processing speed of 819 GB (gigabytes) per second and is considered the optimal product in the ultra-high-speed AI semiconductor market.

Along with this, it was stated that the role of pooled memory, such as CXL, will also become important to overcome the limitations of existing memory capacity expansion directly connected to the CPU.

Vice Chairman Park went on to mention that semiconductors have been Korea's top two export items for over 20 years, employing an estimated 310,000 people, and that Korea holds an overwhelming number one position with a 62% share of the global memory market. As such, it was stated that it is a core industry that must be strengthened at the national level.

Accordingly, it was suggested that in order for Korea to maintain its status as a semiconductor powerhouse, fostering excellent talent, the government’s efforts to strengthen the semiconductor ecosystem, and preparation for future technologies are essential.

Finally, it was stated that we must contribute to the Earth and humanity through semiconductor technology innovation.

It was stated that the transition of global server DRAM from DDR4 to DDR5 could reduce cumulative power consumption by 29.2 TWh (terawatt-hours) from 2022 to 2030, which would result in a reduction of approximately 11.67 million tons of greenhouse gases.

Vice Chairman Park concluded his presentation by stating that the Korean semiconductor industry must seek a virtuous cycle in which it contributes to the Earth and humanity through the development of high-efficiency and high-performance products, and in which this leadership leads back to strengthening the industry's competitiveness.