Chey Tae-won (born December 3, 1960), also known by his English name Anthony Chey, is a South Korean business magnate. He is the chairman of
SK Group, Korea's second largest conglomerate
that mainly engages in energy, chemicals, telecommunications, semiconductor, and biopharmaceutical businesses.
SK Group has 186 subsidiaries including
SK Telecom,
SK Hynix, and
SK Innovation
SK Innovation Co., Ltd. () is an intermediate holding company of SK Group engaged in petroleum, alternative energy, and oil exploration. It runs its business through eight major subsidiaries, including SK Energy, SK Geo Centric, SK On, SK Enmove, ...
through SK Inc.(holding company). Chey is well known for the group's
SK Hynix merger deal, which eventually becomes the world fourth largest chipmaker behind
Samsung Electronics,
Intel, and
TSMC. As of June 2021, he is the 14th richest person in South Korea with an estimated net worth of US$3.6 billion. The bulk of his fortune comes from
SK Inc., holding company of
SK Group.
Chey has served as Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KCCI) since March 2021 and has been representing the Korean business community.
Early life and education
Chey was born on December 3, 1960, in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, as the eldest son of Chey Jong-hyun, chairman of Sunkyung Group (now SK Group). Chey attended
Korea University
Korea University (KU, ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea, established in 1905. The university is included as one of the SKY universities, a popular acronym referring to Korea's three most prestigious universities.
The ...
where he received a bachelor's degree in physics, and later he received his Ph.D. in economics at
University of Chicago, USA. He joined SK Corp. as a manager, served as executive director of SK America, executive director of SK Corp. and vice president of SK Corp. After the death of Chey Jong-hyun, the former chairman, he took the post of SK chairman at the early age of 38 without a management dispute. It is reported that Chey Yoon-won, the son of founder Chey Jong-gun, appointed Chey Tae-won as the group leader, saying, "Tae-won is the best among our brothers."
Career
Chey has served as Chairman of the SK Group since 1998. For nearly 30 years, Chey has held a number of leadership positions across SK's various operating companies.
He had been Chairman of SK Innovation since 2011 and Chairman of SK Hynix since 2012. He has served as Chairman of SK Telecom since February 2022 to accelerate its digital innovation efforts centering on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Under his