SK CEO's divorce case retried today, with SK Group's control becoming the biggest highlight BlockBeats News: On July 24th, the divorce and property division case between SK Group Chairman Choi Tae won and his ex-wife Lu Suying has become more sensitive due to the AI chip craze. SK Hynix has become one of the hottest Korean assets in the global AI capital expenditure cycle, thanks to its key position in Nvidia's supply chain through HBM. This case, referred to as the "Century Divorce" by South Korean media, was originally a long-standing marriage dispute between a wealthy conglomerate. But the surge in stock price and market value directly raised the market imagination of Cui Taiyuan's wealth and SK's controlling stake, and also turned this family matter into a financial control event of concern in the capital market. SK Hynix, a core asset under SK Group controlled by Cui Taiyuan, is one of the most important high bandwidth memory suppliers in Nvidia's AI chip supply chain. With the outbreak of HBM demand, SK Hynix's stock price and valuation have soared significantly, and Choi Tae won's personal wealth has also been pushed up to about $5 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that his ex-wife Lu Suying is demanding a share of half of it. The core of the dispute in the case is whether the SK Inc. shares held by Cui Taiyuan should be included in the joint property of the couple, and at which point in time these shares should be valued. The Supreme Court of South Korea had previously confirmed the divorce and 2 billion Korean won compensation for mental damages, but overturned the Seoul High Court's ruling on the division of 1.38 trillion Korean won assets and remanded the portion of the property division for retrial. The Seoul High Court will make a new ruling on July 24th. BlockBeats once provided a detailed analysis of the situation of the Choi Tae won family in their internal article "The Inheritors of SK Hynix's Trillion Empire". This marriage was once known as the 'Century Wedding' in South Korea. Choi Tae won married Roh Soo young in 1988, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae woo. Their union was once seen as a symbol of the alliance between South Korean political and business elites. In 2015, Cui Taiyuan publicly admitted to an extramarital relationship and had a son with another woman, followed by a lengthy divorce lawsuit. Among the three children of Cui Taiyuan and Lu Suying, the eldest daughter Cui Yunzhen joined SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK Inc. Growth Support Department, the second daughter Cui Minzhen worked at SK Hynix to handle international trade and policy affairs before turning to AI healthcare entrepreneurship, and the eldest son Cui Rengen transferred from SK E&S to McKinsey. All three of them are connected to the future of the group, but none of them have been clearly identified by the market as the traditional "crown prince". For the market, SK Hynix remains one of the most core Asian targets in the AI storage chain; For the SK family, the more important the Hynix is, the harder it is for inheritance and marriage litigation to remain at a private level. The AI market has raised the valuation of Hynix and also increased the external costs of all arrangements within the SK family. Next, how the court handles property division, how Cui Taiyuan stabilizes control, and how the third generation establishes business legitimacy will all become the focus of market attention. [Original link]