"Korea, US, and Japan Must Collaborate on Developing AI Chips with High Performance per Watt and Cost-Effectiveness"

KCCI and Korea-America Association Discuss Korea-US-Japan Industrial Cooperation Plans
Experts from the Three Countries Gather to Address AI and Energy Sectors

As the landscape of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is shifting from a focus on training to inference, there is a growing call for Korea, the United States, and Japan to join forces in jointly developing AI chips and infrastructure technologies in order to secure their competitiveness.

At the 6th Korea-US Industrial Cooperation Conference, co-hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea-US Association and held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building on May 7, Professor Seokjun Kwon of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University stated, "The global AI ecosystem is evolving from an emphasis on training to inference, and from simple performance competition to focusing on performance per watt and cost-performance ratio." He continued, "Korea, the United States, and Japan should build a joint research and development platform to collaborate on developing AI computing infrastructure with high performance per watt and AI data center systems and memory semiconductors with excellent cost-performance ratios."

Professor Seokjun Kwon from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University is delivering a keynote presentation at the 6th Korea-US Industrial Cooperation Conference held on the 7th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall, jointly organized by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korean American Association. Photo by Jinyoung Kim

Professor Kwon pointed out that memory bottlenecks are a major obstacle to the global expansion of AI and could also pose a crisis for domestic companies. If memory prices surge to levels that exceed customers' budget ranges, it could have adverse effects. He said, "It is difficult for memory companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to solve the bottleneck issue on their own," and added, "Beyond just sharing memory supply roadmaps with U.S. hyperscalers, the governments of both countries need to offer policy cooperation to resolve technical challenges."

On the 7th, a panel discussion took place during the 6th Korea-US Industrial Cooperation Conference held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building, co-hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea-US Association. From the left: Seokjun Kwon, Professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University; Seyoung Lee, President of the Generative AI Startup Association; Kwangseok Kim, Director of Economic Research at the Korea Economic Industry Research Institute; Hongjun Ahn, Head of AI Industry Division at the Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association. Photo by Jin-Young Kim

It was also suggested that the three countries could generate synergy through initiatives such as a 'physical AI testbed' or building AI infrastructure jointly utilized by startups. Hongjun Ahn, Head of the AI Industry Division at the Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association, remarked, "It is worth considering creating a 'three-country joint physical AI testbed' by combining Korea's manufacturing data, U.S. AI models and supercomputing resources, and Japan's robotics control technology." He added, "Based on the results of joint demonstrations, we could explore exporting an 'AI full-stack package' to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America in the future."

Seyoung Lee, President of the Generative AI Startup Association, also said, "When Korean AI startups expand globally, access to U.S. graphics processing unit (GPU) cloud infrastructure can be of great help," and suggested, "It is necessary to establish a jointly usable AI computing credit program and a shared infrastructure hub so that innovative startups from Korea, the U.S., and Japan can smoothly expand their services into each market."

However, it was noted that for such AI cooperation to be effective, changes are needed in the regulatory environments of Korea, the U.S., and Japan, which are currently structured differently. While Korea is building a comprehensive regulatory framework based on the Basic Act on AI, the U.S. relies on sectoral regulations and litigation, and Japan places more emphasis on ex-post regulation.

Hiroki Habuka, Senior Researcher at the CSIS AI Center, said, "One of the main bottlenecks hindering AI cooperation among the three countries is that their regulatory approaches are becoming increasingly divergent." He emphasized, "The private sector should take the lead in developing 'regulatory interoperability'—that is, creating systems to help companies navigate regulatory environments more efficiently and predictably."

Meanwhile, the event was attended by around 120 participants, including Choi Joongkyung, President of the Korea-America Association; Lee Hyunghee, Vice Chairman of the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Yeo Han-koo, Head of Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; James Heller, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Korea; and James Kim, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.

In his welcome speech, Vice Chairman Lee Hyunghee said, "With the recent reorganization of the international trade order and supply chain systems, Korea and Japan, as export-driven countries, have a greater incentive to unite in overcoming structural challenges. When cooperation takes place within the alliance among Korea, the U.S., and Japan, it can provide greater stability and sustainability." He added, "We will strengthen private-sector cooperation so that the industrial ecosystems of the three countries can be more closely connected."

Lee Hyunghee, Vice Chairman of the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vice Chairman of SK, is delivering a welcome address at the 6th Korea-US Industrial Cooperation Conference held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall on the 7th, co-hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea-US Association. Photo by Kim Jinyoung

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