Lee declares vision to make Korea leader in AI supply chain
President Lee Jae Myung unveils the San Francisco AI Declaration during an event in San Francisco, July 24. Yonhap
SAN FRANCISCO — President Lee Jae Myung declared a vision Friday to make Korea a trustworthy production base and supply partner for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, vowing to lead the country into a key global player in the AI supply chain.
The president made the remarks as he unveiled his "San Francisco AI Declaration" at a high-level meeting in the namesake city that brought together the chiefs of global tech firms and the heads of South Korean conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also attended the meeting.
"South Korea will make a leap forward to become an irreplaceable, core nation in the AI supply chain," Lee said.
"Based on the world's highest-level competitiveness and production capacity in memory semiconductors we have, (Korea) will become a trustworthy AI chip production base and supply chain partner," the president said.
The declaration came as Seoul seeks to provide further momentum after growing global demand for semiconductors amid the AI boom has helped push South Korean into becoming one of the world's major chip supply hubs.
Last month, South Korea announced three megaprojects involving major investments, totaling over 4,000 trillion won ($2.73 trillion), in a semiconductor production cluster, physical AI and AI data centers.
"South Korea will establish a world-class AI hub that will reliably supply the core infrastructure needed by the global AI ecosystem," the president said.
"The Republic of Korea will create a new market where the world can grow together by becoming not only a key supplier but also a country that most effectively and swiftly utilizes AI," he added, referring to Korea by its official name.
Lee also pledged efforts to create new markets for the real-world application of AI technology, such as in manufacturing or logistics, adding that the country will also seek to become a test bed for AI adoption.
"South Korea will become a responsible partner that shares the opportunities and benefits of AI with the world and grows together rather than pursuing growth alone," he said.
The president arrived in San Francisco earlier in the day as part of a five-nation trip that will later take him to three South American countries. He is set to depart Saturday for Brazil, and later visit Chile and Argentina.