'SK AI Summit' Successfully Concludes with 30,000 Participants... Close Collaboration with Nvidia, TSMC, and Others

Morning of the 4th, a view of the 'SK AI Summit' held at COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is delivering the keynote speech on the theme "AI together, AI tomorrow." Photo by SK

The 'SK AI Summit 2024,' which involved domestic and international artificial intelligence (AI) experts and entrepreneurs, drew great response with over 30,000 participants both online and offline.

SK announced on the 6th that more than 30,000 people, including AI specialists from home and abroad as well as general visitors, participated over two days through online and offline channels at the 'SK AI Summit 2024' held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on the 4th and 5th of this month.

The 'SK AI Summit 2024' was elevated to a large-scale global event by SK this year. It gathered numerous experts from government, private sector, and academia in the AI field, serving as a platform to explore coexistence methods in the future AI era and cooperation strategies within the AI ecosystem. It was the largest AI symposium ever held in Korea.

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won led the summit by presiding over the opening session for about 50 minutes on the first day of the event. In his keynote speech, Chairman Chey presented a vision to accelerate the future of AI by combining SK’s AI capabilities with global partnerships to contribute to global AI innovation and ecosystem strengthening.

Notably, Chairman Chey’s speech, conducted in a dialogue format discussing the future of AI with CEOs of big tech companies closely collaborating with SK such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, and TSMC, received high praise from domestic and international AI experts and summit attendees. It was regarded as a showcase of AI leadership, demonstrating Chairman Chey’s long-standing commitment to solidifying partnerships with global big tech and dedicating efforts to AI development cooperation, drawing a sold-out crowd and significant attention.

In addition, top executives from SK group member companies, including Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom, and Kwak No-jeong, CEO of SK Hynix, also made a full appearance, attracting attention by announcing SK’s AI technology vision and new products to lead AI innovation. In particular, CEO Yoo declared the construction of an 'AI Infrastructure Super Highway' and announced the ambition to become an Asia-Pacific Data Center (AI DC) hub. CEO Kwak officially announced the world’s first development of the 16-stack 'HBM3E' and presented a future vision to grow as a 'Full Stack AI Memory Provider.'

On the afternoon of the 5th, participants are speaking at the panel discussion of the 'National AI Strategy' session at the 'SK AI Summit' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. From the left: Yeom Jae-ho, President of Taejae University and Vice Chairman of the National AI Committee; Jeong Sin-ah, CEO of Kakao; Park Seong-hyun, CEO of Rebellion; Oh Hye-yeon, Professor of Computer Science at KAIST. Photo by SK

The summit also featured in-depth discussions on national AI strategies involving government and AI experts from academia and industry. Chairman Chey had previously stated in his keynote that SK would support the growth of domestic AI startups and the establishment of the domestic AI ecosystem to help Korea play a leading role in the AI era.

At the event, Yeom Jae-ho, President of Taejae University and Vice Chairman of the National AI Committee, emphasized that for Korea to rise as the third major AI power following the U.S. and China, the government, companies, and private sectors must unite as one team. Jeong Shin-ah, CEO of Kakao and a panelist, stressed that AI R&D requires very high costs for infrastructure acquisition, thus national-level support such as tax benefits is necessary. She also mentioned the need to establish related systems to ensure that personalized and social data can be safely utilized in the AI era.

Besides the main session attended by about 30 distinguished domestic and international speakers, over 100 presentation sessions on AI technology areas were held. Notably, SK focused on promoting domestic AI technological capabilities by gathering a total of 19 companies, including four new members of the promising domestic AI company alliance 'K-AI Alliance' (Soundable Health, TechAce, ByFive, Nota), and took time to explore ways to strengthen the domestic AI startup ecosystem and expand globally.

The SK AI Summit attracted not only AI experts from home and abroad but also the general public’s interest. The venue was bustling with crowds visiting the AI presentation sessions and exhibition halls showcasing AI technologies throughout the event period.

At the exhibition hall, SK showcased over 50 items applying technologies across the AI ecosystem, including AI infrastructure, AI chips, AI platforms, and AI services. Visitors flocked especially to see AI DC solutions featuring HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and immersion cooling technology, as well as Telco LLM.

Exhibits from global big tech companies such as NVIDIA, AWS, and Microsoft also caught visitors’ attention. Many attendees lined up to experience Google Cloud’s AI photo card creation. Hundreds gathered at the 'Deep Dive Zone' in the exhibition hall to enjoy AI talk concerts by popular influencers such as Shuka and Gwedo, further energizing the event.

The summit also received significant attention from domestic and foreign media. During the event, foreign journalists conducted in-depth coverage of Chairman Chey’s keynote speech and AI sessions featuring domestic and international speakers, while touring the exhibition showcasing the latest technologies, demonstrating high interest. SK interpreted this global media response as reflecting expectations for SK’s role in leading the AI ecosystem and confirmed the enthusiastic attention from audiences worldwide.

An SK Group official said, "This SK AI Summit was a very meaningful occasion where AI experts from around the world, including domestic and international scholars, global entrepreneurs, and governments, gathered in one place," adding, "Going forward, the SK AI Summit will contribute to accelerating the future AI era as a collaborative platform that presents discussions and solutions for building a global AI ecosystem."