Seoul, January 14, 2021
SK hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) issued a green bond with a total value of USD 1 billion to invest in environmentally friendly business projects for accelerating its environmental, social, and governance (ESG1)) management.
A green bond is a type of bond with a special purpose, limited to use only to fund environmentally friendly projects. Among global semiconductor memory manufacturers, SK hynix is the first company which has issued a green bond.
Companies across the world are setting out for ESG activities in recent in order to proactively respond to environmental problems such as climate change. In fact, global IT companies like Apple and TSMC have already participated in RE1002) and issued ESG bonds3) as well. SK hynix also announced its participation in RE100 with other affiliates of SK Group in last year, being one of the first companies to do so in South Korea.
More than 230 global institutions ordered a total value of USD 5.4 billion for the green bond issuance. As such SK hynix decided to increase the total value of the issuance from USD 500 million to USD 1 billion.
With the finances raised by this bond issuance, SK hynix plans to invest in environmentally friendly projects which are associated with water quality management, energy efficiency improvement, pollution prevention, and ecological environment restoration. In particular, SK hynix plans to prioritize the establishment of a new state-of-the-art wastewater disposal plant and a water recycling system as water management is extremely critical in semiconductor industry. Also, the Company will proceed with various projects including the development of low-power solid state drives (SSDs), in order to reduce carbon emission throughout the IT ecosystem in general.
SK hynix thrives to gradually replace hard disk drives (HDDs), which are one of the representative storage devices, with SSDs. The effort will not only signal the improvement of product technology overall, but also contribute to carbon emission reduction significantly, resulting in a noticeable social value creation in environmental area. It is expected that if all the HDDs are replaced with SSDs, carbon dioxide emissions generated by HDDs can be decreased by 93% or even more.
Hyuk Joon Chang, Head of Finance at SK hynix said, “The successful issuance of the global green bond is the result of the global investors’ recognition of SK hynix’s proactive movements to achieve eco-friendliness, including the company’s participation of RE100. As a semiconductor memory manufacturer leading ESG management, SK hynix will continue to contribute to creating social value as well as economic value by securing sustainable sources for the growth of the Company.”
In October 2020, SK hynix announced a financial story that envisions the fortification of its business competitiveness with both DRAM and NAND Flash segment, while engaging in social value creation via ESG activities simultaneously. SK hynix aims to secure the trust and support of stakeholders to eventually increase the corporate value, by starting implementing the financial story in earnest this year.
Definition of Terms
1) ESG
– An abbreviation for environment, social, and governance, which stands for a standard for determining a company’s non-financial performance
2) RE100
– RE100 is a global initiative bringing together the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Led by the Climate Group since 2014, 263 companies joined the initiative so far globally.
3) ESG bonds
– Bonds issued for the projects with the purpose of improving environmental, social, and governance aspects; divided into green bonds, social bonds, and sustainability bonds
Disclaimer
“These materials are not an offer for sale of the securities of SK hynix Inc. in the United States. The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. SK hynix Inc. does not intend to register any offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.”
About SK hynix Inc.
SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), Flash memory chips (“NAND Flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.
Media Contact
SK hynix Inc.
Global Public Relations
Technical Leader
Jaehwan Kevin Kim
E-Mail: global_newsroom@skhynix.com
Technical Leader
Sejin Julia Yoo
E-Mail: global_newsroom@skhynix.com
Technical Leader
Eun Suk Yixi Lee
E-Mail: global_newsroom@skhynix.com
