This story appears in the Apr/May 2024 issue of Forbes Asia. Subscribe to Forbes Asia
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Korea’s Richest 2024. See the full list here.
The rosy outlook for powerful AI chips catapulted newcomer Kwak Dong Shin, CEO of Hanmi Semiconductor, into the billionaire ranks. Shares shot up 600% in the past year, securing Kwak a debut spot among Korea’s richest at No. 8 with a net worth of $3.9 billion.
Hanmi makes the semiconductor-packaging equipment needed to assemble high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI computing.
After dampened global demand in 2023, which saw Hanmi’s revenue fall 50% from a year earlier, chip sales are on the rebound.
Last August, Hanmi opened a new factory at its Incheon manufacturing site to ramp up production capacity. It has 320 customers across the globe, including billionaire Chey Tae-won’s SK Hynix and Jay Y. Lee’s Samsung Electronics.
Hanmi was founded in 1980 by Kwak’s father, No-kwon, a former Motorola engineer, who passed away in December at age 85. Kwak became Hanmi’s CEO in 2007, a decade after he first joined the company.
