SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won shakes hands with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco in this photo he posted on his social media on Thursday. (Yonhap)

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is traveling in the US to meet with leaders of the big tech firms, including OpenAI and Microsoft, to discuss collaboration opportunities on the rising artificial intelligence technology.

On his social media Thursday, Chey posted photos of him shaking hands with Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella taken in separate meetings in the US.

"I am traveling in San Francisco and Seattle and meeting with IT leaders every day. They are so welcoming to discuss the topics we bring up that I do not feel tired at all, and I am energized," Chey wrote in the post.

"I see unprecedented opportunities here, where the heartbeat of the massive trend of AI is beating. There is no doubt that this is a historic moment for everyone, either leap in now or forever decline."

In his meeting with Altman at the headquarters of Open AI in San Francisco, Chey discussed ways to cooperate with the company and shared their opinions on the future of AI technology and the industry, according to industry sources.

At the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Seattle, Chey met with Nadella and agreed to strengthen their partnership with their ongoing collaboration in semiconductors, data centers and AI.

Chey took off to the US on Saturday to check the global trends in AI and semiconductor markets, and to meet with tech leaders. SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang and SK hynix President Kim Joo-sun in charge of AI Infra accompanied the chairman on the trip, along with other executives.

The chairman will attend the group's top executive meeting that runs for two days from Friday via video call, according to SK Supex Council.

At the meeting, some 30 chiefs leading the group's major affiliates including SK Innovation Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won and SK Supex Council Chairman Chey Chang-won will take part in setting the strategy for "qualitative growth" of the group, and discuss new growth drivers, the council said.

"The meeting will mark a critical juncture for the group to come up with strategies and methodologies aimed at enhancing investment capability through substantive management, as underscored by Chey Tae-won, and achieving qualitative growth," an SK official said.

Among the key topics on the table are the measures for business restructuring to enhance efficiency and profitability, and efficient investment in future growth drivers, mainly AI technology, battery and biotechnology, the company said.

"We expect we will need to invest a record amount of funds in our businesses linked to artificial intelligence, including (SK hynix') High Bandwidth Memory to gear up for the coming AI in the next 2-3 years.

SK Group, the country's second-largest conglomerate in terms of assets, has been speeding up efforts to overhaul its 213 affiliates, which is about triple the number of affiliates other conglomerates such as Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group own.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)