"Average Annual Salary 480 Million KRW, Cases Exceeding 1 Billion KRW Common"…The Hogwarts of the AI Industry Pouring Trillions Annually [Tech Talk]

Harry Potter Tourist Spot London King's Cross
Now a Global Big Tech AI Melting Pot
Paradigm-Shifting AI Technology Created Here

Those who have read the fantasy novel Harry Potter will be familiar with London King's Cross Station. In the novel, it is depicted as the train station leading to the magical school 'Hogwarts,' which has made the real King's Cross a representative tourist attraction in the UK.

The Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London, featured in the first Harry Potter movie. Following the success of the novel and film, the actual filming location has become a major tourist attraction.
[Image source=Harry Potter movie still]

However, King's Cross is not just a location featured in a popular novel and movie. It is one of Europe's premier and globally renowned tech hubs, especially known as an 'AI forge' where cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) research takes place. Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry from the UK scientific community this year also work here.

Google's 'Electronic Brain' at the Harry Potter Train Station

The building complex between St Pancras Station (right), the filming location of Harry Potter, and the actual King's Cross Station (left) is home to numerous big tech AI research hubs, including Google. [Image source=Google Maps]

If Harry Potter's King's Cross is a gateway to the magical world, the real King's Cross is a key transportation hub in Europe. It connects various lines throughout British cities and serves as the terminus for the 'Eurostar' linking France and the UK. Thanks to this, it has optimal conditions for attracting talent from around the world, fostering a thriving advanced industry.

Between King's Cross Station and St Pancras Station, a narrow area is lined with buildings ranging from 10 to 20 stories tall. Here are located the UK offices of the American big tech company Google and the global AI giant DeepMind headquarters. According to UK company registration data, Google employed 7,400 people here as of last year, and DeepMind is estimated to employ thousands as well (DeepMind does not disclose information about its researchers).

According to various British media reports, Google London office and DeepMind develop nearly all AI technologies used by Google's parent company Alphabet. This includes Gemini, a rival to ChatGPT, AI managing video data transmission on YouTube, AI designing Google semiconductors such as TPU, and 'AlphaFold,' developed with participation from Demis Hassabis, DeepMind founder and Nobel Chemistry laureate, and John M. Jumper, DeepMind director?all born here.

Average Annual Salary of 480 Million KRW... The World's AI Stars Gathered

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner, 'AlphaFold'. Developed by Google's AI research company DeepMind in the UK.
[Image source=Google DeepMind]

The amount Google has invested here so far is truly enormous. For example, last year Google paid an average total annual salary (including base pay and stock options) of ?266,000 (approximately 480 million KRW) per employee. It is common for senior developers or 'star' AI researchers to be recruited with salaries well over 1 billion KRW.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, pours trillions of won annually into the King's Cross office alone. As a result, professors from top universities in the English-speaking world and European scholars alike have gathered here to form a 'dream team' for AI research. For European researchers, where there are few major big tech companies, DeepMind is like Hogwarts in the AI industry.

King's Cross was not always a forward base for global big tech. It used to be a slum area inhabited by London's poor. However, redevelopment began with the opening of the Eurostar train, and especially from 2010, the UK's 'tech boom' changed King's Cross's fate. After suffering massive damage from the 2008 global financial crisis, London turned to the tech industry as a new growth engine, and over a decade of policy support and investment has borne early fruit.

Today, King's Cross and its surrounding areas are the center of numerous tech companies. Just a little north of Google's base is Meta's (formerly Facebook) UK office, which employs about 7,000 engineers. The autonomous driving AI developer 'Wayve,' considered a rival to Tesla, also has a research center nearby. Additionally, the massive biotechnology research facility 'Francis Crick Institute,' employing over 1,500 PhD-level researchers, is located here. This is also why DeepMind has been able to simultaneously pursue cutting-edge AI and bio research.

Growth or Sovereignty... Deepening Deliberations on AI Strategy

The 'Landscraper' at King's Cross, scheduled for completion in 2025, is a massive building over 300 meters long, where more than 5,000 of the world's top AI scientists are expected to work.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Britain is often likened to the 'invisible champion' of the AI industry because British entrepreneurs and scientists have played a crucial role in the current AI advancements. In fact, renowned AI companies such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI all maintain AI research centers in the UK. In the semiconductor field, British company ARM Holdings has designed CPUs optimized for AI workloads, fostering a close partnership with Nvidia.

However, being an invisible champion also means there are few native British players. While the UK today has the largest AI startup ecosystem in Europe, it cannot compare to the massive American big tech companies.

Some express concerns that the UK might become a 'giant Israel.' Israel boasts cutting-edge technology, but its companies are mostly subsidiaries of American big tech or B2B firms supplying technology only to the US. Similarly, the UK's tech economy could be destined to be 'subjugated' by the US.

At the same time, if American mega IT companies had not acquired startups like DeepMind, AlphaFold might never have been born. The UK has risen to the center of the AI industry through excellent technology, talent, and a bold strategy of opening its doors to foreign capital. However, how to secure AI 'sovereignty' remains an ongoing challenge.

Conversely, countries like South Korea and Japan, as non-English-speaking nations, may find it easier to preserve AI sovereignty. Yet, in the current environment where core AI talent and capital increasingly concentrate in the English-speaking world, it seems difficult for AI sovereign nations to achieve full-fledged growth. Both growth strategies and sovereignty strategies have their pros and cons.