[비즈한국] SK Group's trademark fee revenue has reached an all-time high. Driven by surging demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), SK Hynix's significantly improved performance has led to an increase in the brand usage fees received by the holding company, SK Inc., from its affiliates.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) on the 3rd, five SK Group affiliates that hold "brand royalties," including SK Inc., collected 349.3 billion won in trademark fees from other affiliates last year. This is a 12.4% increase compared to the previous year. Of this total, SK Inc. received 348.7 billion won, accounting for 99.8% of the total.
SK Hynix Payments Hit 111.1 Billion Won, Accounting for 32% of the Total
SK Hynix was the primary driver of the increase in trademark fee revenue. SK Hynix paid 111.1 billion won in trademark fees to SK Inc. last year, roughly double the 56.3 billion won paid the previous year. SK Hynix's share of the total SK Group trademark fees was 32%.
The increase in payments by SK Hynix is directly linked to its improved financial performance. Last year, SK Hynix recorded 97.1467 trillion won in revenue and 47.2063 trillion won in operating profit. Revenue grew by 47% from the previous year's 66.193 trillion won, while operating profit surged by 101% from 23.4673 trillion won. The company stated that strengthening competitiveness in AI memory, such as HBM, and expanding high-value-added products contributed to the earnings improvement.
Trademark fees are generally paid by affiliates to holding companies or companies that own the trademark in exchange for using the group brand. It is known that SK Group charges domestic affiliates and joint ventures that use the "SK" brand a fee of 0.2% of their revenue, excluding advertising expenses. As the calculation is linked to revenue, the performance of large-scale affiliates significantly impacts the total fee amount.
Although SK Hynix's performance worsened in 2023 due to the sluggish memory semiconductor market, it rebounded sharply starting last year thanks to growing demand for AI servers and increased HBM sales. This trend was reflected in SK Inc.'s trademark fee income. Because brand usage fees are tied to revenue, the growth of SK Hynix directly led to increased profits for the holding company.
Trademark fees from other major SK Group affiliates varied. SK Innovation, SK Energy, and SK On paid 2.5 billion won, 74.8 billion won, and 15.7 billion won in trademark fees, respectively. These figures represent decreases of 8.2%, 2.7%, and 42.2% compared to the previous year. This is interpreted as a result of the sluggish petrochemical industry and adjustments in the battery business.
Increased Volatility Based on Affiliate Performance
For a holding company, trademark fees—along with dividends—serve as a major channel for transferring the value created by affiliates to the parent entity. While SK Inc. manages both its investment arm and its own business operations, brand usage fees from major affiliates have also served as a stable source of income. In particular, the improved performance of large-scale affiliates like SK Hynix can immediately translate into higher brand usage fees.
However, because trademark fees are tied to affiliate revenue, there is volatility based on market conditions. During 2023, when SK Hynix recorded massive losses, concerns were raised regarding the stability of the holding company's brand usage fee income. Conversely, last year, the HBM boom pushed up SK Hynix's revenue, leading to record-high trademark fee revenue for SK Group.