Until a few years ago, the Korean company 'SK' was a somewhat unfamiliar name to many Japanese people.
It is said that in order to explain the company, there were times when it was necessary to explain in detail the fact that the Korea-US-Japan consortium in which SK Hynix participated in 2018 participated in an equity investment in Japan's Toshiba's memory business.
Now the situation has completely changed.
It was a symbolic scene when SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who visited Miyagi Prefecture, Japan at the end of last month to advocate for Korea-Japan economic cooperation, finished his lecture and a cloud of local reporters flocked to ask whether the story about building an SK Hynix semiconductor factory in Miyagi Prefecture was true.
While Chairman Choi, who is also the chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is preaching the cause that the future of both countries lies in Korea-Japan economic cooperation, SK Japan is the entity that carries out practical business cooperation with local industries such as semiconductors and energy in Japan.
In an interview with Yonhap News held at SK Japan's headquarters in Chiyoda-gu, Tokyo on the 17th, CEO Yoon Hong-seong, who leads SK Japan, said that Japanese companies' enthusiasm for economic cooperation with Korea is also very strong.
CEO Yoon has experience working as a purchasing manager at SK Hynix's Japanese branch in 2019, when exports of key items such as semiconductor materials, components, and equipment products were blocked due to the Japanese government's export control measures to Korea.
We have experienced the most severe times in the history of Korea-Japan economic cooperation.
He recalled that although the Shinzo Abe administration was sad at the time, the atmosphere in the Japanese industry was friendly, trying to find a bypass export route to Korea.
Although Japan's export permission was delayed, the world's largest suppliers of ultra-high purity hydrogen fluoride, which is essential for the semiconductor manufacturing process, reportedly tried to somehow overcome the situation based on their decades-old raw material supply relationship with Korea.
Japan's export restrictions led to Korea's independence in materials, parts, and equipment, and also dealt a blow to some Japanese materials companies.
Representative Yoon said, “It was an opportunity for both countries to realize that there is more to lose than to gain when approaching the economy with political logic,” and predicted that the likelihood of similar incidents occurring in the future seems small due to the learning effect of this incident.
He further expressed concern that if Korea and Japan do not cooperate, both Korea and Japan could lose their competitiveness in the current international situation where competition for hegemony between the United States and China and economic blocs are intensifying.
Representative Yoon explained, "While Japan is a country with an advantage in raw material supply and intellectual property rights (IP), Korea has a structure specialized in mass production of finished products, and Korea has the know-how in mass production technology that Japan has been out of since the 1980s."
This means that if both countries combine these characteristics, they can create strong competitiveness that can compete against global economic blocs.
In response to concerns that economic security issues might arise if the semiconductor industry, which is considered a key national competitive edge, joins hands with other countries, he explained that an environment has been created in which technology outflows are difficult to achieve.
CEO Yoon said, “In terms of process technology, it is a system where the production recipe goes directly from the headquarters to the factory machines, and just because one or two employees take the technology with them does not mean it can be mass-produced in another factory.” He said that concerns are further diminished as the ‘dark factory’, a fully automated factory that minimizes human intervention, is progressing.
He also cited Japan's increasingly stringent regulations to protect its domestic industries as a reason for the need for Korea-Japan cooperation.
He pointed out, "There are many attractive companies in Japan that we would like to consider various cooperation with, but conditions are gradually changing, with the Japanese government recently passing a law strengthening the screening of investments by foreign companies."
Representative Yoon diagnosed that when a friendly atmosphere for Korea-Japan economic cooperation is created between the governments and citizens of both countries, it will become easier to respond to such regulations and the speed of economic cooperation will accelerate.
He emphasized that it was difficult to find cases where Japanese businessmen easily change long-term partners just because the price became slightly cheaper, and that once a long-term trust relationship is established, they are good business partners to continue cooperation with.
CEO Yoon said that when an article related to SK appears in the local media, inquiries from related companies pour in, and that Korea-Japan economic cooperation is not only a matter of interest to Korea, but also a matter of great interest in Japan.
Regarding when and how SK Group's actual business in Japan, such as SK Hynix's construction of a semiconductor plant in Japan and the construction of an artificial intelligence (AI) data center, will be carried out, he expressed a fundamental position that "we are considering various possibilities."
In order to build a semiconductor factory or AI data center, Japan must be supported by strong demand for electricity, water, and astronomical amounts of investment, which is the same as in other countries, so it appears that detailed calculations that are difficult to reach in a short period of time are underway.
