South Korean and U.S. know-how firms agreed to pursue $950 billion in semiconductor and AI partnerships over the subsequent 5 years, President Lee Jae Myung’s workplace mentioned Friday, as chipmakers scramble to maintain tempo with demand for the quicker reminiscence and processing {hardware} that energy Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic and different AI builders.
Lee unveiled the determine in a keynote at an AI summit in San Francisco attended by roughly 150 executives, buyers and researchers, the place he additionally launched what he known as the “San Francisco AI Declaration,” a press release of South Korea’s ambitions for technological cooperation with the USA. “I’d wish to current a imaginative and prescient for the way forward for AI and suggest world cooperation to make it occur,” Lee mentioned. He met individually beforehand with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
SK Group accounts for the most important share of the introduced spending, with $750 billion in agreements anchored by a partnership between SK Hynix and Nvidia price greater than $500 billion protecting large-scale AI information facilities and next-generation reminiscence provide. Beneath that association, SK Telecom plans to construct a 2-gigawatt information middle powered by Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix’s HBM4 high-bandwidth reminiscence, attributable to come on-line in 2027.
Samsung Electronics individually signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom protecting as a lot as $200 billion throughout reminiscence chips, foundry companies and superior packaging. Samsung mentioned it could assist construct Broadcom’s next-generation AI accelerator utilizing Samsung’s high-bandwidth reminiscence know-how, together with sub-2-nanometer foundry manufacturing and superior packaging.
Presidential coverage chief Kim Yong-beom mentioned the information middle commitments introduced on the summit span a mixed 5 gigawatts of capability and roughly 2 million graphics processing items, with Anthropic alone accounting for 1 gigawatt; Kim mentioned Amodei had signaled openness to additional funding throughout a one-on-one assembly with Lee. “We have now developed concrete funding and cooperation plans with world companions throughout each core space” of Korea’s semiconductor, information middle and bodily AI initiatives, Kim informed reporters at a briefing following the summit.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won mentioned AI prospects at the moment are searching for way more reminiscence than the trade had anticipated even a number of months in the past, citing current conversations with executives at Nvidia, Anthropic, OpenAI and Broadcom. “I wouldn’t be stunned if, the subsequent time I see [Huang], he’ll inform me these figures have been too low and say, ‘I need extra,’” Chey mentioned, describing Nvidia’s personal five-year reminiscence projections as prone to show conservative. Chey added that Broadcom’s Hock Tan had informed him reminiscence demand would in all probability outstrip accessible provide, that Anthropic was commonly checking on future chip availability because it builds out its personal computing capability, and that OpenAI had pressed SK to provide chips straight moderately than by intermediaries.
Chey additionally mentioned Anthropic was creating its personal computing energy, with out elaborating — a potential reference to reporting that the AI lab is exploring designing its personal chips. An Anthropic spokesperson mentioned the corporate was at all times evaluating its choices and attracts on a variety of chip suppliers as a part of a intentionally diversified method to computing. Amodei didn’t deal with the chip-design reviews straight, saying solely that Anthropic had signed provide agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Anthropic raised funding in Could at a valuation of $965 billion, naming Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron as companions whose reminiscence, storage and logic chips it considers vital to its provide chain.
The summit additionally produced smaller facet agreements: Hyundai Motor Group unveiled an “autonomous car foundry” plan with Waymo, Samsung SDS signed a strategic partnership with Anthropic to develop new AI markets and practice AI engineers, and Naver mentioned it could construct $10 billion price of AI information infrastructure by an funding settlement with Nvidia and a separate infrastructure provide cope with Canadian funding agency Brookfield Corp.
Lee is scheduled to attend a gathering in Silicon Valley on Saturday between South Korea’s Nationwide Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund, and U.S. enterprise capital companies geared toward steering extra funding towards South Korean startups. The San Francisco commitments construct on a $576 billion state-backed industrial program Lee unveiled final month, anchored by Samsung and SK Hynix, to construct semiconductor manufacturing clusters, bodily AI ecosystems and AI information facilities throughout South Korea.
