What began as a routine corporate restructuring has become a test of whether South Korean companies should keep selling semiconductor assets as artificial intelligence reshapes the global chip industry.
SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate, is expected to decide this week whether to proceed with the sale of SK Siltron, the country’s only dedicated semiconductor wafer manufacturer, to Doosan Corp., a South Korean industrial group that has been expanding beyond heavy industry into higher-value manufacturing businesses. The proposed acquisition would give Doosan an immediate foothold in one of the semiconductor industry’s most critical upstream businesses while helping SK raise cash through its ongoing portfolio restructuring.
When SK selected Doosan as its preferred bidder last December, the transaction appeared to benefit both companies. SK was streamlining its business portfolio and raising capital to invest in future growth areas, while Doosan had an opportunity to diversify into semiconductor materials, one of the fastest-growing manufacturing sectors as global AI investment accelerated.
The negotiations have since stretched beyond seven months, largely because the value of what is being sold has changed.
SK Siltron produces semiconductor wafers, the ultra-pure silicon discs used as the foundation for nearly every advanced chip. It is South Korea’s only specialized wafer manufacturer and the world’s third-largest supplier of 12-inch wafers. As demand for AI servers continues to fuel investment in advanced semiconductors, wafer suppliers have become increasingly important throughout the global chip supply chain.
That shift has complicated SK’s decision.
The conglomerate has repeatedly said it wants to become an “AI full-stack provider,” while Chairman Chey Tae-won has pledged to significantly expand the group’s semiconductor business. SK Hynix, South Korea’s second-largest memory chip maker and one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI accelerators, has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom. At the same time, SK continues to invest in AI-related businesses in the United States.
Selling a company that supplies a key semiconductor material therefore appears less straightforward today than it did when negotiations began.
At the same time, completing the transaction still carries strategic value. SK has spent the past several years simplifying its sprawling corporate structure by disposing of non-core assets, and abandoning a deal after selecting a preferred bidder could raise questions about the group’s restructuring strategy. The company also continues to require capital to support AI investments and other long-term initiatives.
Doosan faces its own strategic calculation. Acquiring SK Siltron would move the company beyond its traditional industrial businesses into a sector benefiting directly from global AI spending. But the longer negotiations continue, the greater the likelihood that SK Siltron’s valuation will continue to rise alongside demand for semiconductor manufacturing materials.
The board meeting expected later this week is therefore about more than approving an acquisition.
It will determine whether SK believes the immediate financial benefits of selling the business still outweigh the long-term strategic value of owning one of the semiconductor industry’s most important suppliers as AI transforms the economics of the global chip supply chain.
