Billionaire behind world's leading AI chip hit with £483million divorce bill after fathering lovechild

Published: 00:19, 25 July 2026 | Updated: 00:20, 25 July 2026 The billionaire behind the world's leading AI chip has been hit with a £483million divorce bill after fathering a lovechild. In what local media called the divorce of the century, tycoon Chey Tae-won was embroiled in an epic court battle with Roh Soh-yeong, his wife of 35 years and the daughter of a former South Korean president. At the heart of the row was Mr Chey's stake in the SK Group, whose value has soared as its microchips are used by world-leading AI company Nvidia. The couple married in 1988 in a ceremony at Seoul's presidential palace, from where the bride's father Roh Tae-woo had ruled the country from 1988 to 1993. But in 2015 Mr Chey admitted to fathering a child with a lover and the marriage broke down. Mr Chey filed for divorce in 2018. It took five years for the court battle over money to start in earnest.  The share price of SK has trebled since 2015. Yesterday Seoul's Supreme Court ruled Ms Roh, 65, was entitled to a cash payout of a third of the couple's marital wealth – £483million. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won arriving at a court to attend his retrial regarding the division of assets with his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong at the Seoul High Court in June Roh So-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea But Mr Chey, also 65, may regard it as a victory – after a 2024 court ruling had ordered him to pay his ex £700million.  Both parties are able to appeal against the latest award. In June 2024 it was reported that Mr Chey was ordered to pay $1billion to his estranged wife after he cheated on her - the largest divorce settlement the nation has ever seen.  Appeal judges in Seoul more than doubled the amount of money Chey Tae-won, chair of the SK Group conglomerate, owes to Roh So-yeong, the daughter of a former president. The pair, both 63, met as students at the University of Chicago and married in 1988, and had a son and two daughters together.  They began divorce proceedings in 2017, two years after Chey revealed he had a child out of wedlock with another woman. The court ruled that the business leader's marriage into the family of the late president Roh Tae-woo, who led South Korea from 1988 to 1993, benefitted him and his company, the second largest in South Korea after Samsung.