SK Hynix Billionaire Must Pay $645 Million Divorce Settlement—Korea’s Largest Ever
South Korean billionaire and SK Group chair Chey Tae-won was ordered to pay his ex-wife around $645 million, the country’s largest-ever divorce settlement, putting a significant dent in the billionaire’s personal fortune, which has soared this year amid an AI-driven boom in the prices of advanced memory chips sold by his company SK Hynix.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, a Seoul appeals court ruled that Chey must pay his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, a property division settlement of KRW 944 billion ($645.7 million).
The payout is Korea’s largest-ever divorce settlement but is lower than the KRW 1.38 trillion (around $945 million) that a court had initially granted to Roh in 2024—but later overturned by the country’s Supreme Court.
The court dismissed Chey’s argument that his holdings of SK Inc.’s shares should not be part of the settlement, as he had inherited them, and ruled that Roh was entitled to one-third of the couple’s joint property.
In its ruling, the court said the value of Chey’s stocks soared during their marriage and Roh’s “homemaking and child-rearing responsibilities,” and support for SK Group’s public-facing activities aided this, Nikkei Asia reported.
The chipmaking billionaire’s lawyers told reporters that they are examining whether to appeal the ruling but added Chey was “apologetic” for causing concern over the case.
According to Forbes estimates, Chey Tae-won’s current net worth is $5.3 billion, making him South Korea’s ninth richest person. Chey’s personal fortune had grown significantly in the past year and a half, up from $1 billion at the start of 2025.
SK Inc. shares fell 3.82% on Friday to $431.36 (KRW 630,000) after the court’s ruling. Chey is SK Inc.’s largest shareholder with a 17.9% stake in the holding company. Chipmaker SK Hynix’s Korea-listed shares also slumped on Friday, tanking 8.34% to $1,204.32 (KRW 1,759,000). The memory chipmaker’s Nasdaq-listed shares are down 4.00% in premarket trading.
Since the start of 2026, SK Hynix’s stock price has soared nearly 150%, while SK Inc. has risen around 143%. While Chey doesn’t directly hold SK Hynix shares, 20% of the chipmaker’s stock is held by SK Square—an SK Inc. subsidiary. SK Hynix is one of the world’s big three memory chip makers alongside fellow South Korean conglomerate Samsung and U.S. semiconductor giant Micron. SK Hynix supplies 56% of all the high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in the most advanced AI super computers deployed by the likes of Nvidia.