SEOUL: SK Group, South Korea's chip-to-battery conglomerate, aims to boost ties with Japanese chip equipment and materials makers, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won was cited as saying in an interview with Nikkei.
"We will further strengthen cooperation with Japanese chipmaking equipment makers and chip materials suppliers, and will consider increasing investment (in Japan)," Chey said in the interview published late on Thursday.
SK Group affiliates include SK Hynix, the world's No.2 memory chip maker.
His comments come ahead of an upcoming trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan, the first in more than four years. Leaders of the three countries will adopt a joint statement on areas including the economy and trade, the office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said.
Given rising demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors used in artificial intelligence chipsets, Chey said the South Korean company is "investigating the possibility of manufacturing the products in other countries, such as Japan and the United States," according to Nikkei.
Chey, who also serves as the chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said South Korea and Japan could deepen their collaboration in the energy sector. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies)