SK hynix Announces Technical Vision in Santa Clara, USA, to Strengthen AI Memory Leadership

SK hynix held the '2026 Global Forum' in Santa Clara, California, United States, to reveal its memory technology vision and growth strategies in response to the artificial intelligence (AI) era.

Held on the 18th (local time), this forum is an annual event of SK hynix that has been hosted every year since 2012. This year, experts in the AI and semiconductor fields and researchers from major universities in the United States attended. Under the slogan 'Share the Vision, Shape the Future, Together,' SK hynix organized sessions to share technology roadmaps and discuss response strategies for the AI industry.

Expanding Global Production Bases and Emphasizing Next-Generation Memory Technology Leadership

Kwak Noh-jung, CEO of SK hynix, who appeared as the keynote speaker, explained SK hynix's technological status within the AI industry and revealed future growth engines. CEO Kwak mentioned plans to expand production bases, such as the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and the Indiana Fab in the United States, while expressing the intention to strengthen influence in the global semiconductor ecosystem by establishing a new global AI R&D center in the United States.

CEO Kwak premised that "the AI industry cannot exist without memory," and said, "Just as we set a new milestone with HBM, we will continue to open new possibilities for AI through the next-generation memory we are preparing." He added, "As the growth trend of the AI industry continues, demand for AI memory will also remain high," and "We will maintain our technological advantage and market dominance through new global production bases and research foundations."

Technical Convergence from a System Perspective and In-depth Discussions by Field

In the following panel discussion, a technical diagnosis of the direction of change in the memory industry was conducted. The discussion, moderated by Professor Jeon Sang-woo of UC Irvine, included executives from various technical fields, such as Vice President Kim Hyeong-su (DRAM Design), Vice President Lee Jae-won (AI Interface), Vice President Lee Kang-uk (PKG Development), and Vice President Kim Ho-sik (Memory Systems Research). The panelists analyzed that due to the rapid development of AI, an integrated approach—finding solutions from a total system perspective and connecting different technologies beyond improving the performance of individual technologies—will become important.

Regarding technical capabilities, opinions were presented that the ability to understand other fields based on expertise and to collaborate with various experts is essential. Vice President Jin Bo-geon (Head of Corporate Culture) cited a flexible and horizontal organizational culture as the foundation of SK hynix's technological competitiveness and explained the importance of the 'One-Team' culture that gathers individual capabilities.

The forum continued with eight thematic round-table sessions divided into four fields: design, process/device, advanced package, and system. Current experts and academic researchers conducted in-depth discussions on memory technology issues and future development directions in the AI era according to their respective areas of expertise. At the venue, an exhibition of flagship products including HBM and next-generation memory solutions was provided, along with a poster space introducing research papers by SK hynix scholarship students.