Industry Eyes Expansion of AI Collaboration
Nvidia and OpenAI CEOs to Meet Face-to-Face
KCCI: "Arranging Meetings Between Corporate Leaders"
As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit approaches in Gyeongju, expectations are rising for cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. With heads of state and major corporate leaders gathering in one place, discussions on global AI alliances and industrial cooperation are expected to take center stage.
According to industry sources on October 13, leading global companies and major domestic conglomerates are seeking to expand cooperation in advanced industries, including AI, ahead of the upcoming APEC summit. The CEO summit, ministerial meetings, and technology forums to be held in Gyeongju are expected to serve as catalysts for in-depth discussions on strategic alliances between global companies.
In particular, there is growing interest in the potential for investment and collaboration in AI technology, a key topic in the industry. As the schedules of the leaders' summit and business events overlap, discussions on a global technological alliance centered on AI are likely to accelerate further.
Even before the official APEC agenda begins, major companies have already begun to pave the way for cooperation. On October 1, Samsung and SK Group signed an agreement with OpenAI in the United States and announced plans to participate in the "Stargate Project," a large-scale AI infrastructure initiative led by the U.S. The project, which will invest up to 500 billion dollars (about 700 trillion won) by 2029, is considered a cornerstone of the global AI ecosystem and is seen as a barometer for the direction of future cooperation discussions.
On July 18th, at the 2nd meeting of the 2025 APEC Business Leaders Event Promotion Committee held in Gyeongju, Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, delivered a greeting. Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
This Gyeongju summit is expected to be a turning point for restructuring the framework of cooperation among global companies. In particular, if Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, meet in person, many analysts believe it could lead to more concrete strategies and cooperative structures in the global AI industry.
Nvidia recently pursued a 6.3 billion dollar cloud capacity purchase agreement with CoreWeave and invested 5 billion dollars in Intel. The company also signed a semiconductor supply agreement for data centers with OpenAI worth up to 100 billion dollars (about 143 trillion won) and invested 2 billion dollars (about 2.8 trillion won) in xAI, Tesla's AI company. These moves demonstrate that the global competition for AI leadership is rapidly expanding beyond technological capability to include direct corporate investment and supply chain alliances.
A representative from a major domestic conglomerate participating in APEC stated, "The key is which company leaders meet with which other corporate representatives." There are also predictions that opportunities for collaboration will increase before and after the event. Another company official commented, "There is more interest in behind-the-scenes negotiations than in official meetings during the summit."
In particular, the heavy industry sector, which focuses on manufacturing and infrastructure, is joining the global trend by adopting AI strategies for industrial sites. A representative from the heavy industry sector said, "Instead of general artificial intelligence (AGI), we are focusing on 'ASI (Artificial Specific Intelligence)' strategies that integrate domain knowledge and on-site operational experience with AI technology for each business." The representative added, "We have established partnerships with Naver, Google Cloud, and SK AX, and plan to actively participate in the government's global AI alliance during this APEC summit." They further explained, "We are strengthening AI-based quality inspection and knowledge management services in sectors such as shipbuilding, construction equipment, and robotics, and accelerating the development of 'physical AI' technology that enables industrial robots to autonomously control quality."
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