Kim Yong-beom, head of the presidential office's policy planning, previewed that "a very meaningful number of long-term memory chip contracts will be announced all at once" on the occasion of President Lee Jae-myung's visit to the United States. He also predicted that partnerships between U.S. Big Tech firms and Korea's "No. 1 and No. 2" memory semiconductor companies would be strengthened through strategic investment deals between individual companies.
According to the presidential office on the 24th, Kim held a briefing with foreign media the previous day and said, "The long-term contracts that companies such as Samsung, SK, and Naver have been discussing appear likely to be announced all at once on this occasion," adding, "A lot of very large and meaningful figures are likely to emerge." Specifically, he explained, "The biggest is long-term memory chip contracts, followed by investment deals on the artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) side," noting, "There will be announcements of confirmed demand from global companies for large-scale AIDC construction, and (it will be announced that) Samsung and SK hynix have each decided to enter new long-term contracts for memory."
He then introduced the event, saying, "The CEOs of four U.S. Big Tech companies (Anthropic, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Broadcom), along with Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and Naver, will take the stage with the president for a dialogue — quite a meaningful event." President Lee departed for San Francisco, U.S., on the same day.
Asked whether the "carbon neutrality act amendment" could be met in the process of pursuing mega projects, he said, "Of course it must be observed." The carbon neutrality act amendment, which sets the 2040 nationally determined contribution (NDC) at a "level of 69–80%" compared to 2018 emissions, is currently under discussion in the National Assembly.
Kim said, "In the long term, we must accelerate renewable energy (generation), which has been slow," and introduced the fact that he told Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan, "Whatever the technology — offshore wind, solar, energy storage systems (ESS), or carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) — if it is pursued within the next five years, we will provide the necessary funding and support." In particular, he emphasized, "Small modular reactors (SMRs) are also one of the targets."
Kim said, "In the past there was much controversy over SMRs and nuclear power itself, but recently the value of nuclear power is being reevaluated," explaining that, unlike in the past, nuclear power is now recognized not as a concept opposed to renewable energy but as a low-carbon means of reducing carbon emissions.
An event to unveil a new energy vision is also scheduled for August. Announcing such plans, Kim emphasized, "(The goal is) for Korea to become the country that first commercially realizes any new technology. Since there is ample fiscal capacity, let's pour all-out national-level research and development (R&D) into it."
On "K-shaped" polarized growth, he expressed concern, saying, "It's not a lowercase k but an uppercase K." Kim said, "We need to help young people take their first step, but AI is replacing all such demand, which is too big a shock for young people," adding, "We are actively trying to find new ways to solve this problem at the societal level."
