President Lee Jae-myung is set to pay a state visit to China and meet local founders of innovative AI and robotics startups known as the "China AI Tiger." Promising Korean deep-tech startups and small and midsize companies will accompany the president as part of an economic delegation, opening the door to future industry cooperation between Korea and China.
According to the startup and SME sector on the 2nd, the president will first hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during the visit from the 4th to the 7th. He is then expected to visit Shanghai on the 6th and 7th, the latter half of the schedule, to meet founders or key executives of AI technology startups representing China.
A corporations the president is likely to meet is the Shanghai-based AI unicorn "MiniMax." Given the plan to visit Shanghai, it is seen as likely he will meet startups based in the region. Some also raised the possibility of visiting a corporate headquarters. MiniMax is a leading player in China's Generative AI market, founded in 2022 by Yan Junjie, a former vice president at Chinese AI company SenseTime, known for facial recognition technology.
"Agibot," which is drawing global attention in the mass production of humanoid robots, is also cited as a strong candidate. Agibot is a corporations founded in Shanghai in 2023 by Peng Zhuhui, a former Huawei engineer. Peng, a graduate of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, a top science and engineering institution, is regarded as AI talent. In addition, MoonshotAI founder Yang Zelin has been mentioned. All of these corporations have been recognized for their technology and growth potential and are called the "China AI Tiger."
If the meeting comes together, it would be the president's first since taking office with Chinese AI and robotics startup founders who are drawing worldwide attention. Earlier, on Oct. 1, the president met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul.
In fact, the Korean government initially considered both Shanghai and Hangzhou as venues for the president's startup meetings. Hangzhou has rapidly emerged as an "AI city" in China. The government also reportedly pursued a plan for the president to meet Liang Wenfeng, founder of "DeepSeek," dubbed the "Chinese ChatGPT." Based in Hangzhou, DeepSeek unveiled low-cost, high-performance AI models and sparked what the global tech industry called a "China AI shock." However, the government is said to have chosen Shanghai as the final destination, where global capital and the AI and robotics industries converge.
Another key element of the visit is an economic delegation centered on Korean startups. Alongside the traditional delegation led by large corporations such as Samsung, SK and Hyundai Motor, the government also bolstered a separate startup delegation and exchanges with China focused on startups and small and midsize companies in deep-tech fields such as AI.
To coincide with the president's visit, the government will hold a Korea-China business table round in Shanghai, with participation from Korean startups and local Chinese startups. A venture capital (VC) investment networking event will also take place. Promising Korean startups are expected to discuss technology cooperation and partnership plans with Chinese corporations at the event. The government plans to support startup-to-startup cooperation so that it leads to future industry collaboration between Korea and China.
The startup community is responding very positively to the president's visit. A CEO of an AI startup said, "It is highly symbolic for the president to meet China's innovative AI CEOs in person," adding, "It can also be read as a message that the government will actively support global cooperation by innovative startups and small and midsize companies, moving away from economic diplomacy centered on large corporations." The person continued, "For Korea to leap forward as an AI powerhouse, it clearly shows the need for strategic cooperation with China at the startup level."