A landmark acquisition of a local chipmaker by SK Group five years ago has accelerated the growth of the group’s information and communications technology businesses, pushing their outbound shipments to surge 127-fold, the group said Sunday.

“The ICT affiliates’ boost in sales has played a critical role in turning the group into an export machine,” SK Group wrote in a statement Sunday.

“Adding to the conventional powerhouses devoted to energy and chemical products, the ICT firms under the group have paved the way for a new phase of growth.”

The third-largest conglomerate in South Korea by market cap has four ICT pillars.

The firms, chipmaker SK hynix, mobile carrier SK Telecom, e-commerce firm SK Planet and IT service provider SK C&C, grossed some 17 trillion won ($15 billion) in export sales in 2016. The figure accounts for 28.6 percent of group-wide overseas sales, $52.4 billion, in the same year.

More focus on the research and development sector, led by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, has enabled the firms’ export sales to have surged 127 times in 2016, from 130 billion won in 2011, a year before the deal was landed.

SK Group took over the semiconductor maker in 2012 following a $3 billion deal. Such R&D investments within the group include one of 2.1 billion won into the nation’s second-largest SK hynix in 2016, about 2.5 times higher than in 2011. The figure stands at 834 billion won since then.

The firms have not only increased its overseas market sales over the past few years, but have also geared up for the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, the group added. The affiliates have zeroed in on AI-based platforms, Internet of Things-powered connected cars and big data-based digital transformations.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)