Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft (MS) and chairman of the board, chose South Korea as the second country to visit after India this year. The industry interprets this as reflecting MS's intention to use South Korea, which has one of the world's best IT infrastructures, as a testbed for expanding its AI business.
◇ Nadella CEO meets with leaders of the Korean industry in succession
According to the industry, Nadella CEO visited South Korea on the 25th and held meetings with domestic industry leaders at the KT building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. This meeting, called the 'AX Leader Summit,' included Kim Young-seob, president of KT; Chung Ki-sun, vice chairman of HD Hyundai; Song Chang-hyun, president of Hyundai Motor Group; Kang Seok-hoon, chairman of Korea Development Bank; Jin Ok-dong, chairman of Shinhan Financial Group; Jang In-hwa, chairman of POSCO Group; and Kim Yu-yeol, president of EBS. Nadella CEO also had a one-on-one meeting with Seo Kyung-bae, chairman of AMOREPACIFIC Group, on the same day.
On the morning of the 26th, before attending the MS-hosted 'AI Tour in Seoul' event held at the aT Center in Yangjae, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Nadella met with representatives of domestic startups including Upstage, wrtn, Liner, Quanda (Messpresso), and Galaxy Corporation to discuss AI business collaboration. Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of Upstage, noted that 'unlike leaders of large Korean companies, Nadella CEO discussed business based on a clear understanding of technology' and added, 'I expect further collaboration with MS.' During his visit, Nadella CEO is also scheduled to meet with Jo Joo-wan, president of LG Electronics.
◇ 'South Korea has a high level of IT infrastructure'
Analysts suggest that the background for Nadella CEO meeting leaders from various sectors, including IT, shipbuilding, automotive, finance, beauty, and education, is that the company chose South Korea as a testbed for its AI business.
Kim Kyung-won, a distinguished professor of business administration at Sejong University, stated, 'The key to expanding the AI business is convergence. Convergence occurs through the synergy of cooperation among various industry sectors. South Korea is one of the few countries where industries are evenly developed across the board, and its IT infrastructure is advanced to the highest level, which is why MS selected South Korea as a testbed for its AI-driven business.' He added, 'India is one of the world's largest IT outsourcing and software development hubs, with a large number of IT engineers. Nadella CEO's intention seems to be to utilize India as a research and development base and South Korea as a testbed for AI convergence business.'
During the keynote speech at the 'AI Tour in Seoul' event on the 26th, Nadella CEO said, 'Data and infrastructure are essential for the AI business. South Korea is the country with the highest level of infrastructure in the world and offers the greatest effect with the lowest expense.'
◇ Nadella: 'India will become the world's largest GitHub'
The 'AI Tour' event is an annual event conducted in cities across 60 countries worldwide to explain MS's new AI business and hold meetings with partners. Among the 60 countries, the number of countries visited by Nadella CEO is limited. Last year, he visited Mexico, Germany, and Brazil, while this year, the only countries he visited are India and South Korea.
Nadella CEO announced during his visit to the 'MS AI Tour in Bengaluru' event in January that he would invest $3 billion (approximately 4.39 trillion won) in AI and cloud sectors in India over the next two years. This marked the largest investment MS has made in India to date. At that time, MS revealed its plan to nurture 10 million AI talents in India by 2030 to enhance the development capabilities of its AI cloud service, Azure. Nadella CEO has also agreed to collaborate with KT to establish an AI training center for nurturing AI talents during this visit.
Nadella CEO emphasized, 'India has the second largest GitHub scale after the United States, and by 2028, it will surpass the United States to become the largest.' GitHub is a web-based platform operated by MS that helps software developers manage code and collaborate. During the AI Tour in Seoul event, Nadella CEO also mentioned, 'South Korea has over 2.2 million developers on GitHub.'