SK hynix reported a drastic fall in its social value creation last year, as the chipmaker paid much less taxes amid an overall downturn in the global semiconductor market, the company said Monday.The term “social value” refers to the positive effects a company creates for society, including contributions of an economic, social and environmental nature.The company generated 4.98 trillion won ($3.64 billion) in social value in 2023, down 34 percent from the previous year. This was caused by a sharp decline in its corporate tax payment due to then-worsening market sentiment. The company paid 171.2 billion won in taxes last year, down 91 percent from the previous year.However, the company remained confident about creating more social value this year, as the chip industry enters a rebound cycle.“Starting from the beginning of this year, the conditions in the semiconductor industry have been on the path to recovery,” SK hynix Vice President Lee Byung-rae said. “SK hynix is also trying harder to fulfill its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management so that we will be able to create more social value this year. We will keep doing our best to create more value for the overall chip industry ecosystem here.”
Broken down into specifics, the company made economic and social contributions worth 5.04 trillion won and 765.1 billion won respectively last year. But they were offset by its negative environmental impact of 825.8 billion won during the same period.The company pledged to minimize its negative environmental impact by preemptively developing more power-efficient and high-performance products. Even if the company’s environmental impact remains the same, the negative impact fell by 21 percent from the previous year due to its efforts to develop power-efficient products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the company said.The firm’s social contributions fell by 9 percent during the same period, as the company ended up purchasing fewer products from its partners amid the chip industry slump. But the figure is forecast to rise this year, as the industry jumps back on track toward a stable recovery.SK hynix has been calculating its social value creation since 2018 to ensure its ESG management. Last year, a group of 19 partners of the company joined the 슬롯사이트 drive for sustainable growth of the local chip industry.