President Lee meets AI leaders in San Francisco, seeks investment

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung arrived in San Francisco for an official tour of the United States and South America, immediately engaging with key figures in the artificial intelligence sector. Upon arrival, he was greeted by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who presented him with an autographed baseball from San Francisco Giants player Lee Jung-hoo.

President Lee's agenda focused heavily on AI, beginning with a meeting with Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Lee expressed South Korea's intent to significantly expand investments in AI and sought Anthropic's interest and contribution. Amodei responded positively, highlighting Anthropic's focus on corporate partnerships and existing investments from Korean memory chip companies, outlining plans for collaboration in data centers and other areas.

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I am very pleased and happy to meet such a globally renowned figure. South Korea plans to make large-scale investments in the AI field going forward, so we expect your special interest and contribution to our efforts.

The president's schedule included further high-profile meetings with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia; and Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom. These discussions aimed to emphasize South Korea's full commitment to AI investment and global cooperation, with the goal of securing tangible outcomes such as investment and collaboration from core companies within the global AI supply chain.

President Lee is also set to participate in the 'San Francisco AI Summit.' There, he will deliver the 'San Francisco AI Declaration,' articulating South Korea's ambition to become an indispensable player in the global AI ecosystem and outlining its vision for international cooperation. The summit is expected to draw around 150 attendees, including leaders from domestic and international AI companies, researchers, startups, and investors. Memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between Korean companies and big tech firms are also anticipated during the event.

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Anthropic prioritizes corporate partnerships. As a business-centric company, we are collaborating with many Korean companies and have high expectations. Korean memory companies have invested significantly in Anthropic, and we plan to cooperate in data centers and other areas.