[Gyeongju APEC] SK Chairman Chey Tae-won: "Korea Will Be a 'Testbed' for Resolving AI Bottlenecks"

Future Tech Forum AI Hosted by SK Group
Sharing Perspectives on the Development of the AI Ecosystem

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated, "Due to rapid development and change, bottlenecks are occurring in many areas, including artificial intelligence (AI) data centers," adding, "I am confident that Korea, with its ability to adapt quickly, will become a 'testbed' for resolving these bottlenecks."

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers a welcome speech on the theme of 'Building an AI Ecosystem' at the 'Future Tech Forum AI' held on the 28th at Munmu Hall, Gyeongju Expo Park, Gyeongbuk. SK

On the 28th, at Munmu Hall in Gyeongju Expo Park, Gyeongbuk, during the 'Future Tech Forum AI'-a side event of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit hosted by SK Group-Chairman Chey remarked, "As proven in the past with the history of the internet and mobile, AI will also spread and evolve most rapidly in Korea."

The forum was attended by Chairman Chey; Ha Jungwoo, Senior Secretary to the President for AI Future Planning; Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS); Choi Sooyoun, CEO of Naver; Kim Kyunghoon, Head of OpenAI Korea; Yoo Youngsang, CEO of SK Telecom; Simon Milner, Vice President of Meta; and other domestic and international figures from the AI industry.

Chairman Chey emphasized, "In Korea, the government and businesses are closely collaborating as one team to seek solutions," and added, "Projects to build computing infrastructure based on public-private cooperation and independent AI foundation model initiatives are efforts toward technological self-reliance."

He also noted, "Since it is impossible to localize everything completely, we must also pursue cooperation with global players," explaining, "The construction of the Ulsan AI Data Center by AWS and SK, as well as the 'Stargate' partnership with OpenAI, are becoming additional catalysts for expanding Korea's AI ecosystem." He further stated, "Korea's model, in which technological self-reliance and trust-based cooperation coexist, can serve as a reference for many APEC countries."

Senior Secretary Ha Jungwoo, in his keynote speech, said, "The Lee Jaemyung administration is pursuing a strategy to make Korea one of the top three AI powerhouses," and added, "We will focus on securing high-quality specialized data and nurturing top talent to create an innovative ecosystem."

Garman, CEO of AWS, stated, "We will cooperate by focusing on building AI infrastructure, investing in local regions, adhering to principles of sovereign design, and applying AI agent technology to business," adding, "Together with partners including SK Group, we will create an innovative ecosystem."

Choi Sooyoun, CEO of Naver; Kim Kyunghoon, Head of OpenAI Korea; and Simon Milner, Vice President of Meta, also shared their companies' AI innovation cases and experiences in industrial applications. Following this, Yoo Youngsang, CEO of SK Telecom, held a 30-minute discussion on 'AI Innovation, Ethics, and Growth' with Senior Secretary Ha Jungwoo; Kim Kyunghoon, Head of OpenAI Korea; Choi Yejin, Professor at Stanford University's Human-Centered AI Research Institute; and Nitin Mittal, Deloitte Global AI Leader.

Meanwhile, SK Group showcased its AI data center solutions at the 'K-Tech Showcase' held in the outdoor special exhibition hall at Gyeongju Expo Park. SK hynix, SK Telecom, SKC, and SK Enmove participated, bringing together their capabilities in semiconductors, cooling, operations, and security for AI infrastructure. Before the forum began, Chairman Chey and CEO Garman toured the exhibition hall together.

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