Interview with Kim Seong-han, Vice President in charge of purchasing at SK hynix, ‘[Edaily Reporter Kim Jeong-nam] “We will contribute to achieving our management goals by quickly securing core materials and components, maintaining leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) memory market, and efficiently managing capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx.”’,
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, ‘Kim Seong-han, Vice President in charge of purchasing at SK hynix’s Front-End (FE) division, said in a newsroom interview on the 22nd, “We are making efforts to support the company’s overall goal of becoming the number one supplier of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).”’,
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, ‘The Front-End (FE) purchasing department is responsible for procuring materials, components, and equipment necessary for the front-end processes and supplying them to the field. It plays a role in managing quality, cost, technology, as well as overseeing the entire delivery process and optimizing business interconnections by predicting demand.’,
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, ‘In particular, the semiconductor industry operates based on collaboration among global countries. In order to produce semiconductor end products through a long process of semiconductor design, manufacturing, as well as the supply chain of materials, components, and equipment possessed by companies around the world needs to be supported. Moreover, with recent international uncertainties, supply chain management has become even more challenging, highlighting the growing importance of the purchasing sector in the semiconductor process.’,
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, ‘Vice President Kim stated, “The goal is to support smooth future semiconductor development by reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the long term, establishing a supply chain system that is resilient to geopolitical issues, and achieving net zero through incremental ESG policies in collaboration with our partners.” TCO refers to the total cost incurred in purchasing, installing, and maintaining products and services.’,
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, ‘Vice President Kim further emphasized, “The role of organizations that used to be focused on procurement has expanded to include technology procurement, global sourcing, and supply chain ecosystem management, increasing its importance internally and externally.” He said, “Among them, FE purchasing plays a crucial role in timely supplying essential materials like wafers, key equipment such as Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment required for wafer production.”’,
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, ‘Vice President Kim also mentioned, “In the rapidly changing AI era, situations and roles are becoming more complex,” and “To stay on track in such an environment, we need to focus on the basics of our work. Only then can we achieve results.” He emphasized the importance of ‘Back To the Basic.’,
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, ‘He said, “During periods of downturn, purchasing focused on reducing investments, enhancing cost competitiveness, and contributing to overall cost reduction throughout the company.” “Frequent price negotiations, collaboration with manufacturing and technology organizations to identify collaborative items and reducing maintenance costs were effective,” he said.’,
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, ‘He continued, “As international uncertainties increase, challenging environments such as supply restrictions for specific items are emerging in the overall procurement of materials, components, and equipment.” “To overcome this, we are utilizing all available resources within legal and institutional frameworks to secure market information and reduce uncertainty,” he explained. “We are rapidly responding to policy and strategic changes of major suppliers and strengthening the supply chain risk monitoring system.”‘,
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