"South Korea AI? Can't Catch Up with China and Will Die... The Bigger the Corporation, the Slower," Criticized by Choi Tae-won

Direct Critique of Korean Industry in Response to AI Startup CEOs' Questions
Emphasizes the Need to Strengthen Korean Manufacturing
Points Out Slow Market Formation and Industrial Structure Issues in Korea
SK Sets Goal to Build 'Low-Cost AI Data Centers'

"There is a very high probability that we will fail to catch up with China and die."

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (and Chairman of SK Group), expressed a sense of crisis that South Korea's industrial competitiveness is rapidly being overtaken during the 'AI Talk Concert with Future Generations' held on the afternoon of the 2nd. He said, "Honestly, our competitor China is currently ahead of us in both AI and manufacturing," and explained, "China has a much larger scale in the robotics industry, enormous inputs, and far more engineers."

Chairman Choi emphasized the speed of China's technological advancement and strongly expressed concerns that South Korea could be left behind in competition if it does not further strengthen its manufacturing base. His candid remarks in front of the future generation are interpreted as an urgent call to face reality and secure fundamental competitiveness.

On this day, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a talk concert at the KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) Daejeon main campus KI Building Seonam-pyo Fusion Hall to discuss the future of AI technology and industry in depth. Panelists included Chairman Choi, KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, KAIST AI Graduate School Dean Jung Song, and AI startup CEOs such as An Jae-man of Vesl AI, Lee Chan of Plotic, and Kim Jong-gyu of Sixty Hertz. The discussion was conducted in a format where startup CEOs exchanged questions and answers with Chairman Choi.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairman of SK Group), is discussing the future of AI technology and industry at the "AI Talk Concert with Future Generations" held on the afternoon of the 2nd at the KI Building Seonam-pyo Fusion Hall at the KAIST Daejeon campus of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Along with Chairman Choi, the panel included Lee Kwang-hyung, President of KAIST; Jeong Song, Dean of the KAIST AI Graduate School; and AI startup representatives, CEO Ahn, Lee Chan of Plotic, and Kim Jong-gyu of Sixty Hertz. Photo by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry

In response to a question from CEO An about the possibility of business cooperation between large corporations and startups in overseas markets such as the United States, Chairman Choi answered somewhat pessimistically, "The market is in the U.S., not in Korea." He pointed out, "In South Korea's B2B (business-to-business) market, markets form only where large corporations exist, and there is a problem of not investing in smaller places," adding, "Even if a small company has new technology, a market would form if it changes the world, but overall, South Korea is somewhat slow in this regard."

He diagnosed that in South Korea, no matter how good the technology startups bring, it is extremely rare for large corporations to actively invest or for new markets to form. Chairman Choi refuted CEO An's statement that "all human jobs will be replaced by AI within three years," saying, "In South Korea, the larger the corporation, the slower the speed will be." He advised that from a startup's perspective, it will be very difficult to change the game with new technology and expand by doing business with large corporations in Korea.

He also emphasized the necessity of a 'pooling' strategy, which integrates and flexibly utilizes production lines owned by various semiconductor factories. Chairman Choi explained, "There is a need for a program that collects manufacturing data from all companies and applies solutions at once to increase manufacturing competitiveness." He urged startups to aim to become 'large corporations' capable of developing complex systems, rather than merely supplying single-item solutions.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairman of SK Group), held an "AI (Artificial Intelligence) Talk Concert with the Future Generation" on the afternoon of the 2nd at the KI Building Seonam-pyo Fusion Hall at the KAIST Daejeon campus of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), discussing the future of AI technology and industry. Chairman Choi, along with Lee Kwang-hyung, President of KAIST, Jeong Song, Dean of the KAIST AI Graduate School, and AI startup representatives including CEO Ahn, Lee Chan of Plotic, and Kim Jong-gyu of Sixty Hertz, attended as panelists. Photo by Park Joon-i

Chairman Choi also highlighted plans for AI data center development that day. He said, "We (SK) will make chip solutions for AI data centers," and explained, "Our goal in the AI data center market is to build the cheapest data centers." The plan is to develop chips for AI data centers using semiconductor technology owned by SK Hynix, focusing especially on memory expansion technology to enhance AI data center performance. Additionally, he announced plans to build an ecosystem based on large language models (LLM) by uniting SK Telecom and other telecommunications companies to create new B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer) models.

Furthermore, he pointed out the environmental harm caused by the development of electric vehicles and AI data centers. When CEO Kim asked, "AI data centers will increase, but they may emit a lot of carbon," Chairman Choi responded, "They were created for human convenience, but they are a disaster for the environment." He referred to AI data centers as "electricity-guzzling hippos" and said, "It is true that environmentally friendly energy must be used."

Finally, he emphasized to KAIST students, "Do not hesitate to start a business and take on challenges." In particular, he advised, "Do not just chase money, but create logic," and "Think about ways to create an edge through multiple pivots."