South Korea and U.S. Tech Firms Launch $950 Billion AI Initiative

President Lee Jae Myung hosted an AI summit in San Francisco on July 24 and 25, 2026, where he unveiled the San Francisco AI Declaration to position South Korea as a central hub in the global AI economy. The summit resulted in a series of semiconductor supply and manufacturing partnerships valued at $950 billion over the next five years.

SK Group secured agreements totaling $750 billion, headlined by a $500 billion-plus initiative with Nvidia Corporation to develop next-generation memory and large-scale AI infrastructure. A primary project involves SK Telecom constructing a 2-gigawatt AI factory in South Korea by 2027, utilizing Nvidia Corporation's Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix's HBM4 memory. Additionally, Samsung Electronics signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom Inc. valued at $200 billion for foundry services, memory chips, and advanced packaging through 2030.

Beyond semiconductors, the initiative includes a $10 billion global AI factory project involving Naver, Nvidia Corporation, and Brookfield. Nvidia Corporation also expanded its industrial reach through partnerships with Hyundai Motor Group for autonomous Genesis vehicles and robotic systems, as well as collaborations with LG Group on power systems. President Lee met with CEOs from OpenAI and Anthropic, the latter of which agreed to a memorandum of understanding with South Korea's science ministry regarding AI security and the cyber industry.