President Lee Jae-myung declared that Korea will "leap forward as a core country in an irreplaceable global AI supply chain" at an artificial intelligence summit held in San Francisco. The "San Francisco AI Declaration" announced by Lee sets out a vision to elevate Korea beyond a mere memory chip supply base into a strategic hub that designs and connects the global AI supply chain.
Global companies also highly praised Korea's stable infrastructure and solid manufacturing capabilities, expressing their view of the country as a trusted partner. With the combined market capitalization of domestic firms and global Big Tech companies attending the summit reaching 17,000 trillion won, the declaration is seen as an occasion to announce to the world the launch of a "Korea-US AI alliance" that unites formidable capital and technological power.
Through the "AI Summit Declaration" on the 24th, Lee said, "Korea now seeks to become a country that first presents a future AI vision, cooperates with the world, and builds a better future for humanity." The announcement was attended by top AI business leaders from home and abroad, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung and Naver board Chairman Lee Hae-jin, along with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
Lee first said, "Korea will leap forward as a core country in an irreplaceable global AI supply chain," adding, "Based on our world-class memory chip competitiveness and production capabilities, we will become a trustworthy AI chip production base and supply chain partner."
He also brought to the forefront the "three mega projects for Korea" announced last month. "In June this year, we announced a large-scale investment plan and are transitioning to a multipolar production hub system in which the Seoul metropolitan area and provincial regions jointly take responsibility for the world's semiconductor supply," Lee said. "We will build a world-class AI hub that stably supplies the core infrastructure the global AI ecosystem needs."
To this end, Lee explained, "Korea will go beyond supply to become the country that uses AI the fastest and most effectively, creating a new market where the world can grow together." He added, "AI will become a global AI testbed and production platform where it actually operates beyond laboratories and digital spaces, throughout manufacturing plants, cities and logistics sites."
Korea is drawing attention in the global market with its abundant networks and infrastructure built on unrivaled memory chip production capabilities. This is why Lee's declaration did not stop at an expression of intent but led to a response from global companies. In particular, another strength is that new AI algorithms and services are rapidly adopted at industrial sites and in daily life, serving as an optimal testbed. Using expressions such as "SK hynix, which rose to the world's top in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) by breaking through fierce technology competition," "the stable supply of core infrastructure needed by the global AI ecosystem," and "Korea's robust supply chain," Lee revealed his determination to lead the role of a global hub based on the nation's foundational AI strength.
Global companies also showed interest in Korea's bold investment moves and expressed expectations for the country's capabilities as a trustworthy cooperation partner. Meeting with Lee, Altman said, "Without Korea, the AI revolution would have been impossible. Investment in future AI infrastructure is entirely the right direction," and evaluated Korea as "one of the most important countries in AI, given the efforts shown by the Korean government." Huang also stressed that Korea has entered an "AI golden age," saying, "The vision for an AI-native nation that President Lee presented has given Korea energy."
Lee also expressed his commitment to work to narrow the gap in AI utilization during the great AI transition, moving beyond divisions between leading nations and developing countries, and between specific classes. "We will build horizontal cooperation networks with various countries to create new AI markets, and enable citizens of more countries to participate in the opportunities of AI innovation," Lee said. "We will become a responsible partner that grows together by sharing the opportunities and benefits of AI with the entire world, rather than pursuing Korea's growth alone." He added, "We are contemplating a new distribution model so that the benefits of AI can spread to society as a whole rather than remaining with a specific class."
Lee then held a dinner with global AI leaders and shouted, "We are family." Lee had a beer dinner featuring burgers and fish and chips at a nearby restaurant with Huang, Tan, Microsoft President Rani Borkar and domestic company CEOs.
When popular local menu items such as fish and chips were served, Lee joked to Huang — who had experienced "chimaek" (chicken and beer) during a so-called "gganbu gathering" — saying, "We'll probably need some chicken." He then said, "In our country, we call family members 'sikgu.' We say family are people who eat together." He suggested, "When I say 'We are,' please respond with 'sikgu.'" Huang responded, "We are family," and all participants loudly shouted "sikgu" while clinking their beer bottles. When Huang asked, "Can I have one more beer?" Lee replied, "You can't, because I'm a public servant," drawing laughter from those present.
