SK Group AI chief calls on Korea to become a 'token exporter' to join top AI nations

Yoo Young-sang, chairman of SK Group's Supex Council AI Committee, said Wednesday that South Korea's path to becoming one of the world's top three AI powers lies in evolving "from a semiconductor exporter to a token exporter," pledging that SK Group would become "the most trusted partner in the global AI ecosystem."

Yoo, who oversees SK Group's AI strategy, made the remarks in a special address at the 2026 AmCham AI Forum at Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan-gu. He said construction of AI data centers in the United States has been delayed, and that the Middle East — once considered an alternative — has grown harder to rely on due to the war in Iran, leaving a shortage of factories capable of producing tokens at the scale that memory chip output demands.

"The strategic token supplier that America can trust and rely on is none other than South Korea — and SK," he said.

Yoo described a token as "the smallest unit by which AI reads the world and generates answers," comparing it to crude oil in the AI era.

"AI is not a software industry — it is a manufacturing industry that produces tokens," he said. "Korea couldn't become an oil-producing nation because it lacks natural resources, but it can become a token-producing nation."

Yoo noted that South Korea currently holds an 80 percent share of the global HBM market, yet the factories that actually produce tokens remain largely empty.

"Korea is selling components — memory chips — and then buying back the finished product, tokens, with that money. If this continues, we will have no choice but to become a token-importing nation," he said. "Who builds AI factories — the factories that mint tokens — where they build them, and how large, will determine national competitiveness for decades to come."

Yoo outlined five conditions South Korea must meet to become a token-exporting nation.

The first is building gigawatt-scale national AI factories. "SK unveiled a vision on June 29 to build a total of 15 gigawatts of AI factory capacity," he said. "We will create a decisive edge through bold bets."

Second, he said Korea needs its own foundation models. "We must create the added value of tokens domestically," he said, adding that SK is developing a world-class proprietary AI foundation model through a dedicated AI team.

Third, he called for attracting global big tech companies to build their AI factories in Korea by leveraging the country's power infrastructure, HBM and talent.

Fourth, Yoo said Korea must actively consume tokens domestically to grow the home market and keep the factories running. "We need to expand domestic token consumption through AI transformation across the public sector, healthcare, education, manufacturing, finance and defense," he said.

Fifth, he said Korea must bundle power equipment, cooling technology and next-generation memory chips — including HBM and CXL — as national strategic industries, build out the broader ecosystem and cultivate the talent to sustain it.

On all five conditions, Yoo said: "These are challenges no single company can solve alone. The government, businesses and global allies must work on them together."