Gwangju Buk-gu's Full Effort on 'AI and Optical Convergence Companies Sales Diplomacy'

Buk-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, has recently garnered attention by leveraging last year's success in entering the Southeast Asian market to focus all efforts on sales diplomacy for AI and optical convergence companies in the American market, thereby establishing a foothold for local companies' exports.

According to Buk-gu on the 31st, the "Optical Convergence Trade Promotion Team," launched from the 24th to the 30th to pioneer new overseas markets for Buk-gu's future strategic industries of AI and optical convergence, achieved remarkable results in San Diego and Los Angeles, USA, including on-site actual contracts and commitment contracts worth $10 million, as well as signing two MOUs for entry into the American market.

The Optical Convergence Trade Promotion Team project was organized under close cooperation between Buk-gu and the Korea Optical Convergence Industry Promotion Association to effectively target the American market, including leading optical industry regions such as San Diego and Los Angeles. Eleven promising local companies with excellent technologies related to AI and optical convergence industries participated.

Composed of 23 members including Moon In, the mayor of Buk-gu, representatives from the Korea Optical Convergence Industry Promotion Association, and participating companies, the trade promotion team departed for Los Angeles on the 24th and the next day signed an MOU with the Los Angeles branch of the World Korean Trade Association, pledging mutual economic development exchanges and cooperation to support Buk-gu local companies' entry into the American market.

Subsequently, they moved to San Diego, where the OFC (Optical Fiber Communication Conference) was held, and based on active discovery of promising buyers and market research on excellent products, they held an export consultation meeting inviting local buyers. They pursued multifaceted sales activities for all products of the trade promotion team, resulting in $3.25 million in on-site actual contracts and $6.75 million in commitment contracts.

Additionally, through the export consultation meeting, two AI companies participating in the trade promotion team signed an MOU with a local company operating an AI-based energy platform, marking a fruitful outcome.

In particular, the scale of on-site actual and commitment contracts exceeded the initial Buk-gu target of $1.5 million by $8.5 million, a valuable achievement. Buk-gu plans to actively manage ongoing exchanges with local buyers established this time to ensure additional export contracts can be secured.