SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said Monday that the global shortage of semiconductor wafers is expected to continue until at least 2030, driven by relentless demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other advanced chips powering artificial intelligence applications.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Nvidia’s GTC developer conference, Chey — whose SK Hynix is the world’s leading supplier of HBM to Nvidia — attributed the persistent bottleneck to the sheer volume of wafers required to produce HBM.
“AI actually wants to have a lot of HBM, and once you make the HBM… we have to use a lot of wafers,” he explained. “So we need some time to build up more wafers, at least four to five years. The current shortage could continue until 2030, so we expect more than a 20% shortage of the wafers.”
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SK Hynix holds a dominant 57% share of the global HBM market and ranks second in overall DRAM with a 32% share, according to Counterpoint Research. The company’s position as Nvidia’s primary HBM partner has made it a critical node in the AI supply chain, but also exposed it to acute capacity constraints as hyperscalers and AI developers race to secure next-generation memory.
Chey indicated SK Hynix is actively working on strategies to stabilize DRAM prices amid the supply-demand imbalance.
“I cannot just announce right here, but I guess that our CEO is going to announce a new plan for how to stabilize the price of the DRAM,” he said, without providing further details.
The comment suggests potential production adjustments, pricing discipline, or contractual mechanisms to prevent sharp volatility that could disrupt customers and end markets.
When asked about expanding chip manufacturing in the United States — where many of SK Hynix’s largest customers (including Nvidia, AMD, and major cloud providers) are based — Chey emphasized the practical challenges. Establishing overseas plants requires secure access to power, water, construction readiness, and engineering talent — resources that cannot be mobilized quickly.
“Accordingly, he said this could not be done easily on demand,” adding that the company is currently concentrating production in Korea.
However, Chey confirmed SK Hynix is reviewing a potential U.S. American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing to broaden its global investor base. Such a move would increase visibility among U.S. and international institutional investors, potentially improving liquidity and valuation multiples while reducing reliance on the Korean domestic market.
Chey also addressed the impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has driven Brent crude above $100 per barrel in recent sessions due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. He described the situation as creating “a lot of difficulties” due to elevated energy costs, prompting SK Group to actively seek alternative energy sources. While he did not specify particular options, the comment aligns with broader industry efforts to secure reliable, cost-competitive power for energy-intensive semiconductor fabs.
SK Hynix shares rose 2.7% in early Tuesday trading in Seoul, outperforming the benchmark KOSPI’s 2.4% gain and reflecting investor relief that the wafer shortage forecast, while extended, was not accompanied by any immediate negative surprises on production or customer demand.
The chairman’s remarks come amid heightened global attention to AI supply-chain bottlenecks. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly warned of compute and memory constraints limiting AI model scaling, while TSMC and other foundry leaders have flagged wafer and advanced packaging shortages as key limiting factors through the late 2020s.
Chey’s timeline — a wafer shortage persisting until 2030 — aligns with industry forecasts from TSMC, Samsung, and memory analysts who point to multi-year lead times for new wafer fab equipment, cleanroom construction, and power infrastructure. The comment reinforces expectations of sustained high pricing power for HBM suppliers, particularly SK Hynix, which has outpaced Samsung and Micron in HBM3E and next-generation HBM4 development.
The potential U.S. ADR listing would follow a growing trend of Korean tech giants seeking greater international exposure: Samsung Electronics and LG Chem already have ADRs, and SK Hynix’s move could enhance its ability to fund ambitious fab expansions and R&D while diversifying its shareholder base.
With wafer capacity expected to remain tight for the remainder of the decade, SK Hynix is believed to be well-positioned to maintain its leadership in HBM — provided it can navigate geopolitical risks, energy cost pressures, and execution challenges in scaling production.