President Lee vows to make S. Korea 'indispensable' hub in global AI supply chain

President Lee Jae Myung, currently on a visit to the United States, said Friday (local time) at the San Francisco AI Summit that South Korea will emerge as an indispensable player in the global AI supply chain.

At the event, Lee unveiled the "San Francisco AI Declaration," laying out a new vision for South Korea in the AI era. "Building on our world-class memory chip competitiveness and production capacity, we will become a trusted AI semiconductor production base and supply chain partner," he said.

The summit drew prominent South Korean business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin. Global tech executives also attended, among them Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.

Lee said South Korea announced a large-scale investment plan in June and is transitioning to a multipolar production hub system in which both the Greater Seoul area and regional cities share responsibility for global semiconductor supply. "We will build a world-class AI hub that stably supplies the core infrastructure the global AI ecosystem needs," he said.

In addition, Lee said South Korea aims to go beyond supply and become the country that adopts AI most quickly and effectively, creating new markets for shared global growth. "AI will move beyond laboratories and digital spaces to operate in manufacturing factories, cities and logistics sites — making South Korea a global AI testbed and production platform," he said.

He also said South Korea would take a leading role as a "global hub" that helps narrow the gap between advanced and developing nations.

"We will build a horizontal cooperation network with diverse countries to create new AI markets and enable more people around the world to participate in the opportunities of AI innovation," Lee said. "South Korea will be a responsible partner that shares the opportunities and benefits of AI with the world — growing together, not alone."

By the same token, Lee stressed that the benefits of AI must not be confined to a privileged few.

"AI must develop in a more responsible, human-centered way, and its gains must become new opportunities for everyone," he said. Lee noted that South Korea enacted its AI Basic Act in January this year and introduced the concept of an "AI Basic Society" — one in which no citizen is left behind in the AI era.

Lee drew a parallel between San Francisco and South Korea. "San Francisco rose from the ruins of the 1906 earthquake through indomitable will and relentless challenge to become the center of global technological innovation," he said. "South Korea, once one of the world's poorest countries after the Korean War, has similarly established itself as a key player leading the global AI ecosystem."

Lee also highlighted the scale of commitments being made, noting that an AI project investment worth 4,700 trillion won ($3.2 trillion) was announced in June to drive a new leap for South Korea's economy and the global AI industry. He said that on Saturday — the day of the summit — South Korean and global companies with a combined market capitalization exceeding 20,000 trillion won were unveiling an AI investment initiative they had long prepared together.

In his closing remarks, Lee said, "I believe artificial intelligence is like a 'new fire' discovered by humanity. We must respond to an unavoidable reality, and South Korea has proven itself very capable of doing so."

He went on to say that South Korea, a country that has not yet reached 100 years since liberation from colonial rule, rebuilt itself from the total destruction of war and achieved economic success and industrialization in a remarkably short time. "On that foundation, South Korea is also practicing democracy in the most exemplary way in the world," he said.

Lee also touched on the link between economics and democracy, saying that economic matters are connected to democratic values in that they must be rational, transparent, fair and predictable. "South Korea's outstanding democratic capacity was proven through the turmoil of about two years ago," he said, in a reference to the emergency martial law crisis.

"If South Korea has been catching up with advanced nations until now, we are now trying to step out ahead and set an example for all," Lee said. "At the dawn of the golden age of artificial intelligence that South Korea is helping to build, I ask for the cooperation of world-class companies including yours. I dare say you will not be disappointed."