Foreign News
South Korea Unveils AI Push as Lee Courts Nvidia, OpenAI and Samsung
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung brought together some of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence companies and South Korea’s leading business groups on Friday as Seoul stepped up its ambition to become a global AI powerhouse.
Hosting an AI summit in San Francisco, Lee met top executives from Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic and Broadcom before unveiling a new vision aimed at strengthening technological cooperation between South Korea and the United States.
“We would like to lead a new era of artificial intelligence together with global technology companies,” Lee said, adding that South Korea’s “dynamic AI ecosystem” could help expand AI adoption across industries and everyday life.
Tech Giants Gather Behind South Korea’s AI Vision
Among those attending the summit were Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
They were joined by South Korea’s corporate heavyweights, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.
President Lee also unveiled the San Francisco AI Declaration, outlining Seoul’s roadmap for closer AI cooperation with the United States and its broader ambition to become a major player in the global AI ecosystem.
According to South Korean officials, around 150 executives, investors, researchers and startup founders participated in the summit.
Nvidia and SK Group Announce Massive AI Partnership
On the sidelines of the event, Nvidia and SK Group unveiled a partnership worth more than $500 billion, centred on next-generation AI infrastructure.
Under the agreement, SK Telecom will build a 2-gigawatt AI data centre powered by Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI chips and SK Hynix’s latest HBM4 high-bandwidth memory technology. The facility is expected to begin operations in 2027.
The project highlights South Korea’s growing role in supplying advanced semiconductors and memory chips that power modern AI systems.
AI Boom Driving Explosive Chip Demand
Industry leaders said demand for AI computing infrastructure continues to outpace global supply.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won revealed that discussions with Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic and Broadcom all pointed to rapidly increasing demand for memory chips.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if, the next time I see Jensen Huang, he’ll tell me those figures were too low and say, ‘I want more,’” Chey said.
He added that Broadcom also expects memory demand to exceed available supply, while Anthropic is closely monitoring future chip availability as it expands its computing capacity.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also confirmed that the AI company had signed supply agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, although further details were not disclosed.
Seoul Doubles Down on AI
President Lee’s Silicon Valley visit forms part of a broader strategy to attract global investment, cutting-edge technology and closer partnerships with major AI firms.
On Saturday, Lee is expected to attend a meeting involving South Korea’s National Pension Service and leading U.S. venture capital firms to encourage greater investment in South Korean startups.
The summit follows Lee’s announcement last month of three major state-backed AI and semiconductor projects worth more than $576 billion, anchored by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, aimed at building semiconductor manufacturing clusters, AI infrastructure and next-generation computing ecosystems.
(with inputs from Reuters)