The visit of President Yoon Suk-yeol to San Francisco is expected to lead to the announcement of large-scale long-term supply contracts for memory semiconductors between domestic companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and global tech giants, as well as investment agreements for artificial intelligence data centers (AIDC).
The government aims to position South Korea as a stable supply base for AI semiconductors and a testing ground for global AI services.
On July 23, Kim Yong-beom, head of the Presidential Policy Office, shared this vision with international media outlets including CNN and Reuters.
Kim stated, "It seems that the long-term contracts and strategic investments that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Naver have been discussing will be announced all at once during this visit. We expect to see very large and significant figures."
During his trip, President Yoon will meet with the CEOs of four major U.S. tech companies: Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, and Hock Tan of Broadcom. Following these meetings, a summit involving representatives from these companies and Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and Naver will discuss the future of the AI industry and collaboration for about an hour.
The event will kick off with President Yoon's 'San Francisco AI Declaration,' which will outline plans for South Korea to ensure a steady supply of memory semiconductors essential for the AI revolution and to become a reliable market and testing ground for global AI companies.
The government plans to establish a second semiconductor cluster in the Honam region, in addition to the existing one in the capital area, to enhance supply capacity. It also aims to develop a 'Everyone's AI' platform that all citizens can utilize, going beyond just developing independent foundational models.
Additionally, the government will support the AI transition in developing countries through official development assistance (ODA) and will work on building a global AI hub in collaboration with international organizations.
The key outcomes expected to be announced include long-term contracts for memory semiconductors and investments in AIDC. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are set to sign new contracts for the long-term supply of specific semiconductors, and the global demand and investment companies for the AIDC to be built in South Korea have been specifically confirmed. These contracts will support the government's previously announced 'Three Mega Projects for South Korea's Great Leap,' which involve an investment plan of 4,700 trillion won.
Kim emphasized that the expansion of domestic semiconductor factories is not in opposition to U.S. investments. He noted, "80 to 90 percent of related orders come from the U.S.," explaining that the expansion of domestic production facilities is also a response to the explosive demand from U.S. tech giants. For these companies, the critical factor is the reliable supply of memory at the needed time, and government support for infrastructure is essential.
However, he also expressed concerns about the shadows cast by AI-driven growth. Kim referred to the sharp decline in youth employment, describing it as a 'K-shaped growth' and stated, "AI is eliminating the very pathways for entry into society by replacing intelligence."
The government plans to allocate a portion of the increased corporate and income taxes resulting from AI growth to a future response fund, focusing on youth, future, regional, and educational investments. The fund is expected to exceed several trillion won.
To meet the growing energy demand while achieving carbon neutrality goals, the government will also expand energy investments. It will broadly review offshore wind, solar power, pumped storage, energy storage systems (ESS), carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), and small modular reactors (SMR) to support the necessary finances over the next five years. A separate announcement regarding the national vision and goals for next-generation energy, including hydrogen, is expected in August.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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