South Korea's 'divorce of the century' lands a massive financial blow on the head of the conglomerate powering the AI chip boom
A South Korean appellate court has ruled that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won must pay his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, approximately 944 billion won, roughly $640 million, as part of their divorce settlement. The ruling, handed down on July 24, brings a degree of closure to a legal saga that has captivated South Korea for over a decade and carries real implications for the corporate empire sitting at the heart of the global AI chip supply chain.
A decade-long legal battle reaches a turning point #
Chey and Roh separated in 2011. Chey publicly sought a divorce in 2015 after admitting to an extramarital affair. What followed has been dubbed South Korea’s “divorce of the century,” a label that has less to do with romance and more to do with the staggering sums involved.
A prior court ruling had awarded Roh approximately 1.38 trillion won, or about $1 billion. But South Korea’s Supreme Court partially overturned that decision in October 2025, sending the asset division back for reconsideration. Mediation attempts between the two parties failed on June 15, 2026, pushing the case back into formal trial proceedings. The latest ruling of 944 billion won represents a significant reduction from the earlier $1 billion figure. The door remains open for further appeals.
Why the AI boom made this divorce even messier #
The core of the dispute revolves around Chey’s controlling interest in SK Inc., the holding company atop SK Group’s sprawling conglomerate structure. SK Hynix manufactures the high-bandwidth memory chips that power AI training and inference workloads. As demand for these chips has surged alongside the AI boom, SK Hynix’s market value has climbed significantly. That, in turn, has inflated the value of SK Inc. shares, which sit right at the center of the divorce asset calculation.
Corporate governance under the spotlight #
Chey Tae-won’s controlling stake in SK Inc. is what gives him authority over a business empire spanning semiconductors, telecommunications, energy, and logistics. Any forced disposition of shares as part of a settlement could theoretically alter the balance of power within the group. While the latest ruling orders a cash payment rather than a share transfer, the financial pressure is real.
What this means for investors watching the AI chip trade #
SK Hynix is one of only three companies in the world, alongside Samsung and Micron, capable of manufacturing cutting-edge HBM chips at scale. SK Hynix’s fundamentals, driven by insatiable appetite for HBM from the likes of NVIDIA and AMD, continue to paint a bullish picture. The Chey divorce case, still potentially subject to further appeals, remains a simmering variable in the governance outlook for one of the semiconductor sector’s most strategically important players.
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