AI, chip partnerships shape APEC 2025 outcomes

Visitors look at Samsung Electronics' high-bandwidth memory 4 and graphics double data rate 7 memory chips displayed at the company's booth for the K-Tech Showcase, an official side event of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. Yonhap

At this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, the headlines went beyond familiar stories of trade disputes and diplomatic maneuvering, also highlighting bold new alliances in future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.

As leaders from the United States, China and other APEC member economies convened in Korea to address trade and security issues, the APEC CEO Summit — held from Oct. 29 to 31 — brought together more than 1,700 top executives and officials from global companies and major Korean conglomerates, enabling global tech leaders to rally around industry initiatives and partnerships to drive future technological innovation.

Discussions for the sessions spanned finance, energy and culture, with a marked emphasis on the transformative potential of AI, semiconductors and cloud-based technologies. These sessions set the stage for landmark partnership announcements at the summit.

The most anticipated announcements came from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who unveiled a series of partnership agreements with Korean conglomerates and the government, involving a supply of 260,000 Nvidia Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) to the country. The investment is expected to contribute significantly to Korea’s AI-powered transformation across sectors, from manufacturing and mobility to telecommunications and robotics.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. Yonhap

Nvidia will partner with Samsung, SK Group and Hyundai Motor Group to build large-scale AI factories, deploying as many as 50,000 Nvidia GPUs for each company. Meanwhile, Naver aims to surpass that with more than 60,000 GPUs to develop sovereign AI models and physical AI applications with Nvidia.

“Korea has a great chance to be a regional AI hub and one of the largest AI hubs in the world,” Huang told the press after his special session for the CEO Summit on Friday.

Samsung unveiled its plans to build an AI megafactory, leveraging Nvidia’s hardware and its own semiconductor expertise to implement intelligent manufacturing for chips, mobile devices and robotics.

Meanwhile, SK Group will build an AI factory to advance semiconductor research and production as well as cloud infrastructure, while supplying Nvidia with its high-bandwidth memory, which is essential for next-generation AI chips.

Hyundai’s AI factory will use Nvidia’s GPUs to enable AI model training and deployment for manufacturing, autonomous driving and robotics.

Nvidia also inked a multilateral partnership agreement with six Korean partners, including the country's top three telecom companies — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — to develop an AI-powered radio access networks and 6G technologies.

President Lee Jae Myung talks with Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman during a meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. Yonhap

Amazon Web Services (AWS) also announced a record-breaking investment in Korea of more than $5 billion by 2031 to establish new AI data centers in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. This marks the largest greenfield investment amount in Korea’s history, following AWS’ $4 billion investment in June with SK Group to build a hyperscale AI data center in Ulsan, slated to open in 2027.

AWS CEO Matt Garman also met with leaders from Korean businesses, including Lotte Group, GS Group, LG Electronics and LG Uplus, to discuss strategies for AI innovation and cloud utilization.

Hyundai secured agreements to accelerate AI-driven mobility and robotics. The company signed a partnership with Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency to collaborate on future mobility by launching a pilot project for multipurpose modular electric vehicles, aimed at enhancing the operational efficiency of Singapore’s public fleet by 2028.

The collaboration will also explore joint research and development in robotics and hydrogen, supporting Singapore’s transition to sustainable mobility.

The summit also served as a dynamic platform for diplomatic engagement on technology. Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT formalized a partnership agreement with the U.S., deepening cooperation on developing AI and other strategic technologies in sectors such as communications, biotechnology, quantum science and space.