Yoon Poong-young to head Corporate Center reporting directly to CEO Kwak Noh-jung

CEO decision-making support, global business strategy expected as key mandates

Ahn Hyun to lead newly created Americas unit targeting big-tech customers

Cha Seon-yong to concurrently head development, seeking synergy in next-gen products

SK hynix on Friday named Yoon Poong-young, a senior official at SK Group's Supex Council, as president of the Corporate Center reporting directly to CEO Kwak Noh-jung. [SK hynix]
SK hynix on Friday named Yoon Poong-young, a senior official at SK Group's Supex Council, as president of the Corporate Center reporting directly to CEO Kwak Noh-jung. [SK hynix]

SK hynix has appointed Yoon Poong-young, a senior official at SK Group's Supex Council widely regarded as a strategic veteran, as president of its Corporate Center.

The Corporate Center, which reports directly to CEO Kwak Noh-jung, oversees strategy, finance and corporate culture. Yoon is expected to support Kwak's decision-making while laying the groundwork for SK hynix's global business expansion and the identification of new growth engines.

SK hynix announced the president-level personnel changes Friday, with the appointments taking effect Sunday.

Yoon takes over the Corporate Center role previously held by Song Hyun-jong. Yoon is considered a strategy veteran with broad experience in SK Group's strategy, investment and business development. Having been named head of SK hynix's Global Growth Task Force in July, the move to join SK hynix full-time was seen as a natural progression.

Yoon had previously led SK Group's AI transformation efforts and is expected to work alongside Kwak to shape SK hynix's medium- and long-term AI strategy and drive expansion in global markets.

Song will take on a role supporting Kwak's strategic decision-making and key management priorities, drawing on broad management experience and company-wide insight, according to sources familiar with the matter.

With Yoon's addition, SK hynix's president-level leadership now numbers seven, headed by Kwak and including Ahn Hyun, Song Hyun-jong, Kim Ju-sun as AI infrastructure head, Cha Seon-yong as director of the Future Technology Research Institute, and Yeom Seong-jin as head of communications. Jeong Seung-il, who had previously been among the group, was moved to SK Innovation as its new CEO in the reshuffle.

SK hynix on Friday named Ahn Hyun as head of a newly created president-level Americas unit based in the United States. [SK hynix]
SK hynix on Friday named Ahn Hyun as head of a newly created president-level Americas unit based in the United States. [SK hynix]

SK hynix also established a president-level Americas unit in the United States and named Ahn Hyun, who had served as head of development, to lead it. Ahn spearheaded the development of AI memory products including HBM and the low-power DRAM module SOCAMM, and is regarded as a leader with both technical depth and strong management credentials.

SK hynix has been expanding its footprint in the United States, where major HBM customers including Nvidia are concentrated, by establishing an "AI company" to deepen engagement. With the company building an advanced packaging factory in Indiana and reviewing additional production facility investment for NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm, Ahn's role is expected to carry significant weight.

Having held key posts including director of the Future Technology Research Institute and roles in management strategy and solutions development, Ahn is expected to draw on that business, strategic and global experience to steadily expand SK hynix's Americas operations.

SK hynix has assigned Cha Seon-yong, director of the Future Technology Research Institute, to concurrently serve as head of development. [SK hynix]
SK hynix has assigned Cha Seon-yong, director of the Future Technology Research Institute, to concurrently serve as head of development. [SK hynix]

The development head role vacated by Ahn will be taken on concurrently by Cha Seon-yong, director of the Future Technology Research Institute. Cha was promoted from executive vice president to president in last October's executive reshuffle.

Cha is credited with establishing the foundation for fine-process technology at SK hynix and contributing to the company's DRAM competitiveness across DDR, low-power DRAM (LPDDR) and HBM.

Since taking over as director of the Future Technology Research Institute in 2022, Cha has led efforts to push past the technological limits of DRAM and NAND. With the added responsibility of overseeing development of next-generation AI memory, Cha is expected to focus on strengthening synergies between future technology research and product development.


joze@heraldcorp.com