"720,000 GPUs Operated by a Single U.S. Company"... Experts Stress 'Regulatory Innovation' for Korean AI

Joint Seminar by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Assembly Research Service
76% of U.S. AI Investment Concentrated in San Francisco
"Urgent Need to Reform Barriers to AI Investment in Korea"

As Silicon Valley in the United States, a global hub for top talent and capital, is experiencing a resurgence through artificial intelligence (AI), Korean and American experts have convened to discuss Korea's AI support strategies.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Assembly Research Service held a seminar titled "Korea-U.S. Innovation Ecosystem and AI Future Strategies" at the Chamber's conference hall on October 17, 2025. At the event, Sean Randolph, Senior Director at the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in San Francisco, stated, "In 2024, the AI sector accounted for 37% of global venture investment, showing explosive growth. Notably, 76% of AI investments in the United States were concentrated in the San Francisco area, including Silicon Valley," adding, "All of the top five companies worldwide in terms of AI investment attraction in 2024 are headquartered in this region."

Approximately 70 participants attended the event, including Director Randolph; Jung Junhwa, Legislative Investigator at the National Assembly Research Service; Kwon Seokjun, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University; Seong Ukjun, Professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology; Lee Gyuyup, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy; and Choi Donghyun, CEO of Quotalab.

San Francisco, including Silicon Valley, is recognized as the most well-established innovation ecosystem in the United States, with 64 out of 161 unicorn companies (companies valued at over 1 billion dollars), accounting for 40%, and 45 out of 79 pentacorn companies (companies valued at over 5 billion dollars), or 57%, located in the region.

Exterior view of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Director Randolph noted, "In North America, the number of AI startup investments in San Francisco reached 973, the highest in the region and 3.5 times that of New York, which ranks second," and predicted, "AI will once again bring about an economic revival in San Francisco." As of 2024, private AI investment in the United States stood at 109 billion dollars, more than 80 times that of Korea's 1.3 billion dollars. Kang Seokgu, Head of Research at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, commented, "Silicon Valley in the United States is continuously leading global innovation, with AI companies securing large-scale investments thanks to abundant capital," and emphasized, "To build a domestic AI ecosystem and foster Korea-style AI unicorn companies, it is urgent to reform rigid regulations, such as the separation of banking and commerce, which restrict investment."

There were also calls for new strategies beyond the recently announced government roadmap for Korea to emerge as a top three global AI powerhouse. In the second presentation, Legislative Investigator Jung pointed out that while major countries such as the United States, China, and France have concentrated capital investment in AI within stable policy environments, Korea's pace of AI investment has lagged behind. Jung Junhwa explained that while the Korean government recently secured 13,000 state-of-the-art GPUs (graphics processing units) through a supplementary budget, in stark contrast, a single U.S. private company, OpenAI, operated 720,000 H100 GPU modules as of 2024, highlighting a significant gap in investment scale.

He also stressed the urgent need for expanded public-private cooperation and large-scale investment to foster the AI industry, proposing six strategies: bold regulatory innovation to support AI companies and market growth; stimulating market demand by expanding AI transformation (AX) in the public sector; strengthening incentives for private-sector AX; supporting the expansion of data centers and power grids; and building transparent and trustworthy AI technologies.

Additionally, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized the need for the swift passage of AI support bills, which include the expansion of AI infrastructure, activation of data centers, and talent development, currently pending in the 22nd National Assembly.