President Lee Jae Myung (sixth from left) on July 24 takes a group photo with the CEOs of domestic and global big tech companies at the San Francisco AI Summit held at the cultural complex Midway in San Francisco.

By Uyen Nguyen
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

President Lee Jae Myung has announced the San Francisco AI Declaration at the San Francisco AI Summit held at the cultural complex Midway in the Northern California city, presenting his vision for global cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI).

On July 24, he pledged to transform Korea into a global AI production hub and foundation for AI innovation, making it a core nation in an "irreplaceable" global AI supply chain.

More than just supplying AI, he said, Korea will form a dynamic new market for joint global growth by adopting AI faster and more effectively than anywhere else. The country will also become a global hub that enables more countries and people worldwide to join the AI ecosystem by building horizontal cooperation networks with states in diverse regions, he added.

Over 230 figures attended the summit including CEOs like Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Hock Tan of Broadcom, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics, Chey Tae-won of SK Group, Chung Euisun of Hyundai Motor Group and Lee Hae-jin of Naver, as well as researchers, startup founders, investors and students.

President Lee also discussed with high-profile heads of tech giants plans for investment and technological cooperation centered on his administration's three major mega-projects propelling Korea's "great leap forward."

Presidential Chief of Staff for Policy Kim Yong-bum announced in a briefing in San Francisco that day that Korean and global big tech companies agreed to pursue joint projects including a semiconductor partnership worth USD 950 billion, as well as cooperation in AI data centers and physical AI.

President Lee Jae Myung (fifth from left) on July 25 discusses investment and cooperation in Korea's AI industry with the heads of global venture capital companies at the Silicon Valley Venture Capital Meetup at a hotel in San Francisco.

President Lee the next day attended the Silicon Valley Venture Investment Meetup at a hotel in San Francisco.

There, he urged Korea and the U.S. to expand the horizons of their cooperation beyond their longtime security alliance and evolve into partners in technology, innovation and startups. He also asked the U.S. to become a steady partner of an "irreplaceable" Korea where global talent, technology and capital can converge to create growth opportunities over the next 30 years.

The same day, the National Pension Service of Korea signed memorandums of understanding on investment cooperation with six Silicon Valley venture capital companies including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and Sequoia Capital. They also discussed expanding investment in Korean startups and global investments.

uyen81@korea.kr