A South Korean court ordered an AI chip-manufacturing tycoon on Friday to make a trimmed-down US$644 million divorce payment to his former wife.

Chey Tae-won, 65, is the chairman of the SK Group, which owns world-leading memory chipmaker SK Hynix – a pillar of South Korea's tech-led economy.

Seoul High Court in 2024 had told him to pay 1.38 trillion won, or US$940 million, to his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong, daughter of a former South Korea president.

The sum – equal to more than US$1 billion at the exchange rate at the time of the ruling – led local media to dub it the "divorce of the century".

Chey appealed to the Supreme Court, which told the high court to reconsider its 2024 decision and led to the tycoon's reduced divorce bill of 944 billion won. The settlement is not yet final, however, as either side may refer it back to the Supreme Court.

The acrimonious case centres on the definition and valuation of the couple's shared assets, including Chey's lucrative stake in the SK Group.

Seoul High Court ruled on Friday that Roh was entitled to a cash payout worth one third of the couple's marital assets.

"The defendant's shareholdings increased substantially during the marriage through his management activities," the court said.

"The plaintiff contributed to that increase through homemaking, childcare and public-facing activities related to SK Group."

Chey and Roh married in 1988, but the couple are believed to have lived apart for more than 15 years. In 2015, he admitted to fathering a child with his lover.

With SK Hynix selling vital memory chips to AI computing company Nvidia, Chey's stake is now worth roughly US$5.5 billion, according to regulatory filings and public data.

Roh, 65, has three children with Chey and has built a career in the cultural space, running a digital art museum.

The pair were wed in Seoul's presidential Blue House when her father Roh Tae-woo led the country from 1988 to 1993.

They have battled over the split in the courts since 2022, after Chey filed for divorce in 2017 and mediation broke down. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong