South Korea President Lee hosts US tech summit, calls for new AI era

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung convened a high-profile artificial intelligence summit in San Francisco on July 24, 2026, bringing together top global AI developers and leading South Korean business executives. The gathering aimed to accelerate Seoul's strategic push to establish South Korea as a global AI powerhouse.

President Lee articulated a vision for South Korea to lead a new era of AI, emphasizing partnership with international technology firms. He highlighted the nation's intention to make its "dynamic AI ecosystem" available to expand the global market for both industrial and personal AI applications. Prior to the summit, Lee held separate meetings with the CEOs of major AI companies, including Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Broadcom, as well as key South Korean business leaders such as Jay Y. Lee of Samsung Electronics and Chey Tae-won of SK Group.

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I’d like to present a vision for the future of AI and propose global cooperation to make it happen.

A key outcome of the summit was the unveiling of a "San Francisco AI Declaration," outlining South Korea's ambitions for technological cooperation with the United States. On the sidelines, Nvidia and SK Group announced a substantial initiative valued at over US$500 billion. This collaboration focuses on developing large-scale AI data centers and next-generation memory technologies. SK Telecom plans to construct a 2-gigawatt data center, powered by advanced chips, with operations expected to begin in 2027.

The drive to position South Korea at the center of the global AI supply chain is particularly timely, given the current imbalance between soaring demand for chips and computing infrastructure and the available supply. This situation is prompting tech companies to forge closer partnerships with South Korea's established semiconductor and memory manufacturers. The summit itself drew approximately 150 executives, investors, researchers, and startup founders, underscoring the significant interest and investment in the AI sector.

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I want more