Chipmaker SK Hynix has moved its global sales and marketing team, known as GSM within the company, from its headquarters at Icheon, south of Seoul, to a separate building at the capital.
Some 300 employees of the team will work from Mirae Asset CENTER1 building in downtown Seoul, the chipmaker said.
GSM handles sales and marketing against global customers. They receive customer feedback and also handle product planning work.
Justin Kim, who was previously CEO of SK Hynix America heads the team which he was also a division leader in prior.
SK Hynix moved the team to Seoul as it is more convenient to meet foreign guests, easier to hire staff, and the lack of space at Icheon headquarters, sources said.
The space occupied by GSM will also double as a remote workplace for SK Hynix staff living in the Northern region of Seoul.
Affiliate SK Square’s headquarters T-Tower was also nearby, a place frequented by SK Hynix vice chairman Park Jung-ho.
Meanwhile, sources said there were some executives who opposed this move, arguing that the sales and marketing team must be close to the manufacturing team for better communication.
The sales and marketing teams that were located in Seoul and Bundang were moved to Icheon for this very reason years back.
At the same time, SK Hynix is seeing its profit drop from the downturn in the global chip market while rent fees in downturn Seoul are notoriously high.
