Kim Jun-ki, the former chairman of DB Group, has begun to manage the group’s semiconductor business after returning to the front line of the group’s management.
Kim, who became DB HiTek’s unregistered board member on May 1, visited the company last Friday. It is reported that he met with the company’s executives and examined the current situation of the company’s semiconductor business and the company’s future strategies for the business. This is the first time that Kim made a site visit after returning to the management group.
Kim, who withdrew from the management group in September of 2017, has announced his return by being appointed as an unregistered board member of DB Inc. and DB HiTek in March and April respectively.
The DB Group explained that Kim has been appointed as an unregistered board member so that he can be a consultant and an adviser for the group’s major businesses by utilizing his experiences and knowledge.
The reason why Kim returning to the management group is drawing so much attention is because he is the one that cultivated DB HiTek that is one of the top 8-inch foundry company in South Korea.
DB HiTek, which was formally called Dongbu Electronics that was established in 1997, had long been the ‘ugly duckling’ for the group due to years of losses. However, it has grown into a top foundry company through steady investments.
The company is currently recording its best performance in the company’s history due to effects from 5G, IoT (internet of things), and COVID-19. The company made more than $800 million (900 billion KRW) in sales last year due to the shortage of 8-inch wafers and it also made $220 million (243.7 billion KRW) in this past quarter which is the best quarterly performance of its history.
The company has shown a conservative stance for a while. Despite huge demands, it has focused on improving productivity rather than building additional facilities through aggressive investment.
Vice-Chairman Choi Chang-sik of DB HiTek met with the Electronic Times in last February and said that building additional foundry lines will require more than $890 million (1 billion KRW) and that such decision should be made after gaining more experience and knowhow in foundry business.
However, the shortage of semiconductors has led to Intel strengthening its foundry business and SK increasing its production capacity in 8-inch foundry. The South Korean government is also inducing increased investments in foundry in order to promote the country’s system semiconductor industry.
As the industry is expected to see significant changes, it will be interesting to see what advice Kim gave to DB HiTek regarding its semiconductor business. Some predict huge changes taking place within the company shortly as Kim’s level of interest in semiconductor has been always high.
Although the DB Group confirmed the visit by Kim, it did not mention any specific detail about the visit.
Staff Reporter Yun, Geonil | benyun@etnews.com