Seok-won, who had been standing by the window looking down outside, turned around at the sound of a knock.
Yoon Gi-hoon, the president of Bluehole Venture Investment, a slender man wearing thin gold-rimmed glasses, opened the door and stepped in, giving a polite bow. Seok-won gestured toward the sofa with his chin.
"Have a seat."
After moving first and sitting in the center seat of the sofa, Seok-won watched as President Yoon Gi-hoon followed and took the seat to his right.
"You've probably heard that the Asset Management Division recently made quite a profit from euro investments."
Receiving his gaze, President Yoon Gi-hoon replied with a smile.
"Of course. I knew from the news that the euro had risen significantly, but I had no idea the Asset Management Division had invested in it and earned as much as 500 billion won."
Watching him sit with one leg crossed, leaning back against the plush backrest, President Yoon Gi-hoon added,
"Once again, I'm sure you foresaw this outcome and directed the investment, Chairman, but every time I receive reports on how much the Asset Management Division earns, I can't help but be astonished."
The smile never left President Yoon Gi-hoon's face as he spoke.
It was only natural—every quarter, the investment profits generated by the Asset Management Division were enormous.
At first, President Yoon Gi-hoon had been opposed to aggressively investing surplus funds through the Asset Management Division instead of tying them up in safe assets like deposits or short-term financial products, as other companies did.
No matter how nicely it was called "investment," it had seemed like a dangerous move that could wipe out the company's entire reserve funds with a single misstep.
But now, his thinking had completely changed.
That was because the profit the Asset Management Division earned in just a single quarter far exceeded the annual revenue of Bluehole Venture Investment back in the days of Daehung Group.
These days, rather than placing any surplus cash into corporate accounts as retained reserves, he was almost anxious that they might miss the chance to entrust it to the Asset Management Division—even for just a few months—to put it to work.
"Once we unwind our position in Japan soon, we'll be bringing in well over an additional 1 billion dollars in profits in the first half of the year."
"Is that so?"
President Yoon Gi-hoon spoke with a brightly lit expression.
Earning 500 million dollars from euro investments alone had already been remarkable, but hearing that they would soon bring in an even larger sum made the corners of his mouth rise on their own.
The employees of the Asset Management Division, who earned money from outside like a goose that laid golden eggs, had become so endearing to him that he could hardly contain himself.
Watching this, Seok-won spoke in a calm tone.
"We've made more than enough profit, so I'm planning to acquire a company."
At that, President Yoon Gi-hoon leaned forward in his seat and asked,
"Is there a good candidate among the companies currently on the market?"
Yoon Gi-hoon regarded him with curious eyes. As an investor treated like a heavyweight even on Wall Street, and having personally witnessed Seok-won achieve tremendous success in everything he touched over the past few years, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of hidden gem he had discovered this time.
"You know Hynix, right?"
At that moment, President Yoon Gi-hoon furrowed his brow and asked back, as if he had misheard,
"Hynix… You don't mean that company that used to be Hyunwoo Semiconductor before it changed its name, do you?"
"That's the one."
At the reply, President Yoon Gi-hoon's expression immediately crumpled.
"No matter how much money you pour into that place, it's like a bottomless pit with no hope of recovery. Why would you want to acquire that… 'Falling-Tech'?"
Realizing his slip of the tongue, President Yoon Gi-hoon quickly covered his mouth, his face showing alarm.
"M-my apologies."
Seok-won let out a faint chuckle and replied,
"I know why you said that. Its stock kept falling for several years after the IMF crisis, so it picked up that kind of nickname, right?"
"Ahem. That's what I've heard."
Clearing his throat, President Yoon Gi-hoon, reassured that Seok-won seemed willing to let it slide, soon composed himself and spoke again with a serious expression.
"As you mentioned, Chairman, it's a company that has been posting massive losses in the trillions of won every year. It's in such terrible shape that it wouldn't be surprising if it went bankrupt as early as tomorrow. Even so, are you truly planning to acquire Hynix?"
The semiconductor industry was a quintessential capital-intensive sector that required massive investments in both capital and facilities.
Building a proper semiconductor production line alone costs hundreds of billions of won, so running a factory quite literally meant pouring money into it as if it were water.
'The problem is that, unlike industries like automobiles or shipbuilding, even production lines built with enormous capital quickly become outdated equipment within just three to four years at most due to the rapid pace of technological advancement.'
After making massive investments to build a factory and barely stabilizing yields through relentless day-and-night effort, just as they were about to turn a profit, leading companies would surge ahead by introducing new processes with far better power efficiency and higher integration density.
Naturally, buyers of semiconductors preferred products manufactured with the latest processes, so orders inevitably shifted in that direction.
And that wasn't the end of the problem.
The leading companies, having already recovered their initial investments, would then strike another blow by drastically lowering the prices of semiconductors produced with older processes.
With orders already concentrating on the latest processes and even the unit prices for supply dropping, it was nothing short of a thunderbolt for latecomers who had just completed their production lines and were expecting to generate profits.
In the end, they had no choice but to pour in massive amounts of money once again to build new lines based on the latest processes, and the vicious cycle continued.
'Even though the creditor group has already converted well over 10 trillion won of debt into equity, Hynix still hasn't managed to turn itself around and continues to post losses in the trillions every year, floundering in a deep swamp—and this is exactly why.'
Because of this, the creditor group, eager to rid itself of the headache that was Hynix, had put it up for sale at a bargain price—but no one was willing to acquire it.
'Even TG Group, which had been forced by the government's big-deal policy among conglomerates to hand over its cherished TG Semiconductor to Hyunwoo Group for a merger with Hynix—as if it were being taken away from them—won't even give it a second glance, so there's no need to say more.'
No matter how exceptional Seok-won's investment skills were, it was only natural for President Yoon Gi-hoon to be horrified at what looked like an attempt to acquire a company on the brink of collapse.
Seok-won looked at President Yoon Gi-hoon, who was growing increasingly restless at the thought that he might truly go through with acquiring Hynix, and spoke in a serious tone.
"I'm interested in Hynix, but what I intend to acquire isn't the entire company—it's the non-memory division and the foundry."
"Pardon?"
"Unlike the fiercely competitive memory business, the outlook for non-memory and foundry isn't bad. More importantly, if we acquire them, we can expect synergies with the companies we currently own."
"What kind of synergies are you referring to?"
President Yoon Gi-hoon tilted his head in confusion.
"The image sensors and LDI products that the non-memory division of Hynix primarily manufactures are components widely used in home appliances, so we can expect a steady cash flow. And as for the foundry, if we entrust it with semiconductor production for companies in which I hold shares—like Qualcomm and NVIDIA—the volume generated from that alone should be enough to turn it profitable."
Even setting everything else aside, CIS—image sensors alone—would, over time, become core components installed in everything from cameras to smartphones and even automobiles.
And for foundries, there was no need to look far—just looking at Taiwan's flagship company, TSMC, gave a clear answer.
Just imagining a future where it would become a "super contractor," with leading big tech companies lining up to place orders, made it obvious how enormously profitable this business would be.
'As for the memory business, the core of the company, it will generate massive profits once smartphones become widespread and a supercycle arrives in a few years. But for now, it's nothing more than a deep swamp that endlessly devours money. There's no need to rush in and burn cash by acquiring it prematurely.'
It might seem a bit opportunistic, but the most efficient choice was to let the creditor group—already stuck—pour in funds and endure the harsh winter, and then quietly scoop it up just before the warm spring arrived.
Since the foundry market had not yet grown significantly, if Seok-won deliberately injected capital and nurtured it, there was a real possibility that the dominant monopoly player in the market would not be TSMC, but a domestic company instead.
'Waging a chicken game with money is what I'm most confident at.'
Seok-won thought to himself with a faint, knowing smile.
No matter that TSMC had the backing of the Taiwanese government—if it came down to a real fight, he was confident he could win.
Meanwhile, upon hearing that Seok-won intended to acquire only certain divisions rather than the entirety of Hynix, President Yoon Gi-hoon showed obvious relief.
"If that is your judgment, Chairman, I will follow your instructions."
"First, get in touch with Hynix and check whether they are willing to sell their non-memory and foundry divisions."
At that, President Yoon Gi-hoon gave a slight shrug.
"Last year alone, they recorded astronomical losses approaching 2 trillion won and were barely staying afloat. They're hardly in a position to be picky, are they? If we make an acquisition offer, they'll likely grab it on the spot."
Given how desperate they were—so short on operating funds that they had to carry out a large-scale capital reduction and receive cash injections from creditor banks—he thought the same.
"How much should we offer for the acquisition?"
Adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, President Yoon Gi-hoon asked the most important question.
"Start by offering 500 billion won, and depending on the situation, wrap up negotiations within a maximum of 600 billion."
At the immediate response, as if he had already thought it through, President Yoon Gi-hoon slightly furrowed his brows.
"Isn't that giving them too much?"
"If we push the price down too aggressively, they may hesitate and drag things out. It's better to wrap up the deal quickly at a reasonable level."
In fact, by next year, as market conditions recovered, there was a strong possibility that the profitability of the non-memory division would improve, significantly raising its valuation.
'If I remember correctly, when it was sold to a foreign private equity firm two years later, the sale price was 925 billion won.'
Considering that, even acquiring it for 600 billion won would mean buying it at a discount of over 300 billion.
There was no need to engage in a tug-of-war with Hynix's management just to shave the price down a little more.
Unaware of these circumstances, President Yoon Gi-hoon still looked unconvinced by the price, but seeing that the acquisition amount had already been decided in advance, he assumed there must be a plan behind it and chose not to press further.
"Understood. Then I'll proceed as you said and first sound out Hynix on their willingness to sell."
"I'd like to have the entire acquisition process completed within the first half of this year if possible. Can you do it?"
Receiving his gaze, President Yoon Gi-hoon swallowed dryly.
They didn't even know yet whether the other side would agree to sell the division, and yet he was being told to complete everything within just a few months—it was nowhere near enough time.
But Seok-won's words weren't really a question asking if it could be done; they were an order to make sure the acquisition was completed by then, no matter what.
Straightening his posture, President Yoon Gi-hoon spoke firmly,
"I will do my utmost… no, I will make sure to complete the acquisition within the deadline you specified."
Seok-won gave a satisfied smile, as if it were the answer he had wanted.
"I'll trust you and wait."