Ahn Cheol-soo on Lee Jae-myung's remarks: "Is Nvidia a fish-shaped pastry machine... A product of ignorance"

"From the Start, an Ignorant Idea, Lee Jaemyung-style Predatory Economics" Direct Criticism
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People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo criticized the Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung's remark about a 'Korean version of Nvidia shares,' calling it "a statement that shows no understanding of the startup company's founding process." On the 5th, Ahn posted on his Facebook, saying, "Does Leader Lee think Nvidia is a machine that mass-produces fish-shaped bread?" and directly attacked, "It is a product of ignorance, not knowing the AI ecosystem in Korea or the origins and growth stories of Taiwan's TSMC and America's Nvidia."

Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the People Power Party, is speaking at the party-government council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 18th to strengthen AI competitiveness. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Earlier, on the 2nd, Lee said on the YouTube channel of the Democratic Research Institute, a policy research organization of the Democratic Party, "If a company like Nvidia were established in Korea, with 70% owned by the private sector and 30% shared among all citizens, wouldn't a society come where we don't have to rely on taxes?" Regarding this remark, Ahn pointed out, "Nvidia was initially a company that made GPUs, specialized chips for graphics, but it became the world's top company as GPUs were used in artificial intelligence," and questioned, "How can you distribute shares of a company whose direction, success, or failure is unknown at the start to the public?" He added, "Nvidia's corporate value is 1,450 trillion won, which is more than the total amount of our country's National Pension Service," and said, "Even if Nvidia were a public enterprise in our country, distributing national assets worth 1,450 trillion won to all citizens is impossible from a national finance perspective."

He continued, "In the 1990s, public enterprises like POSCO or Korea Electric Power Corporation issued public shares to citizens who wanted to buy them, but even then, shares were not distributed to all citizens," and explained, "Stock prices fluctuate wildly depending on market conditions and the company's management status, so continuous and stable profit generation is difficult."

Furthermore, he stated, "It is impossible under a free market economy for the state to forcibly seize private company shares and distribute them to the public," and dismissed, "It is also impossible to buy shares with more money than the National Pension Service (by borrowing) and distribute them." Finally, Ahn said, "The basis of this idea is ignorant. It is Lee Jae-myung-style predatory economics that the public fears," emphasizing, "Leader Lee is merely enticing people with stories that are impossible by any means. Let's firmly support semiconductor national aid and AI supplementary budgets (additional budget appropriations)."