Chey Tae-won, president of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KORCHAM), said Korea must invest at least 1,400 trillion won in AI infrastructure within seven years to build world-class competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI).
Chey said this during a special dialogue with Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong at the 4th BOK (Bank of Korea)·KCCI (KORCHAM) Joint Seminar held at the KORCHAM Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 5th.
Chey said, "For Korea to properly jump into the current global AI competition, it needs to build AI data centers with a capacity of 20 GW (gigawatts) within seven years," adding, "Given that building one 1-gigawatt data center (one unit) requires about 70 trillion won, a total of 1,400 trillion won must be invested." He added, "This is not a level a single corporations can bear; it must be a structure in which the state, the private sector, and global capital all participate."
On the government's ambition to make Korea one of the global "top three AI powers," he said "selection and concentration" are needed. Chey said, "Korea cannot compete on the same level as the United States and China, which are first and second with a large gap over us," adding, "Only by approaching with a new strategy of selection and concentration of the few resources we have can we make our goal of 'top three.'"
On the "AI bubble" debate, he said, "Because the stock market always has 'overshooting' (a phenomenon where share prices rise above their intrinsic value), there is some bubble, but from an industry perspective it is not a bubble." He continued, "The only scenario in which the AI market collapses is if 'AGI (artificial general intelligence)' ultimately proves impossible," adding, "But I believe we are already entering the AGI era."
He also addressed Korea's low-growth problem. He said, "Korea's potential growth rate is falling into the 0% range, and in about five years we face a situation where it will be almost negative," adding, "It means there will be no one left to invest in Korea, making recovery impossible." He continued, "Within five years we must devise new solutions to drive and lift the economy," adding, "Securing growth engines through the AI industry is the most important task."