Zuckerberg Visits LG to Discuss AI Business Leadership... Next Up, Lee Jae-yong

Busy Schedule for Korea Visit After 10 Years
Prospects for Collaboration on Extended Reality Platform
Discussion on Samsung and Large Language Models

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, who visited Korea for the first time in 10 years, began his 1-night, 2-day trip on the 28th with a meeting with Cho Joo-wan, President of LG Electronics. After discussing AI business leadership with President Cho, Zuckerberg is scheduled to meet Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. On the departure day, the 29th, he will have a meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol regarding AI.

Zuckerberg chose LG as his first schedule in Korea. They explored ways to link webOS with Meta's extended reality (XR) platform, indicating that collaboration on the XR platform is considered important. If discussions progress, cooperation between Meta and LG affiliates such as LG Display and LG Innotek is expected to expand. LG Electronics announced its 'Vision 2030' last July, aiming to transform from a simple hardware manufacturer to a 'media & entertainment platform company.' They are promoting various businesses involving their smart TV platform webOS.

Meta is currently advancing its large language model (LLM) 'LLaMA 3' project to strengthen competitiveness against Microsoft (GPT), Google (Gemini), and Amazon Web Services (Olympus). It is analyzed that various business strategies were discussed to create synergy between LG Electronics' webOS, premium home appliances, and LLaMA 3.

Discussions on mixed reality (MR) and XR headsets were also held. MR is a headset combining the advantages of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and Meta has released the MR headset 'Quest' series. However, with Apple launching the Vision Pro XR headset priced around 4 million KRW, Meta faces increased pressure to release new products to compete with Apple and Google camps. LG Electronics is responsible for designing and manufacturing the Meta Quest.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, entering the underground parking lot of the LG Twin Towers East Building in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul at 12:23 PM on the 28th.
[Photo by Moon Chae-seok]

Meta's goal is to release an XR headset that surpasses Apple's 'Vision Pro.' It is expected to be launched as early as the first half of next year. Zuckerberg is also scheduled to have a consecutive meeting with Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, on the same day. Although the exact time and place of the meeting have not been disclosed, it is likely to take place in the afternoon. Zuckerberg is expected to discuss LLaMA-related business with Chairman Lee as well. For Samsung Electronics, this is an opportunity to negotiate chip foundry orders from a major client like Meta or to establish strategic cooperation of similar scale.

Meta's ultimate goal is to build an artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology ecosystem with human-level or superior intelligence. To achieve this, Meta is constructing an $800 million AI data center in Indiana, USA. Meta plans to secure an additional 350,000 NVIDIA GPU H100 units within this year.

On the 29th, Zuckerberg will also have an AI-related meeting with President Yoon. The day before, he met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss AI cooperation measures. It is expected that President Yoon will express the government's intention to increase investment in advanced technology sectors such as AI semiconductors and request collaboration with domestic companies during his meeting with Zuckerberg.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.