Matt Garman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Amazon Web Services (AWS), laid out a global strategy emphasizing investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and the strengthening of digital sovereignty at the "Future Tech Forum: AI" fireside chat held on the 28th at Gyeongju Expo Grand Park.
The session was arranged at the invitation of SK Group, with CEO Garman and Nitin Mittal, global AI leader at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), taking part in a conversation format. The two discussed key issues including directions for building AI infrastructure, design principles for sovereign clouds, and industrial applications of AI agent technology.
Garman said, "AI is already driving structural change across industries," adding, "To realize this potential, infrastructure and data accessibility are essential." To that end, he said AWS is continuing to invest globally and is making a $50 billion investment in the Asia-Pacific region in particular. In Korea, in collaboration with SK Group, an AI-dedicated data center called the "AI Zone" is being established in Ulsan.
Garman went on to stress that, alongside global technological progress, each country's Data Sovereignty and security requirements are also important. To address this, AWS applies a "sovereignty-by-design" principle, under which customer data remains within a designated Region unless explicitly moved. He said, "It is designed so that customers can directly control where data is stored and how it moves, as well as encryption keys," adding, "These enhanced security and sovereignty measures are steering AI development in the cloud in a more trustworthy direction."
Garman also addressed the AI agents that have recently drawn attention. He said, "AI agents go beyond simple automation to dramatically boost human work efficiency," adding, "Internally, we had a case where a service that 100 people performed over 18 months was completed by just five people in 60 days with AI agent-based coding." He projected that tailored AI agent adoption will spread rapidly across industries including health care, finance, manufacturing, and retail.
Garman emphasized expanding the ecosystem through collaboration rather than growing alone. He said, "The role of the cloud is to help corporations reduce undifferentiated, repetitive tasks so they can focus on their core innovation," adding, "Together with partners, including SK Group, we will build an innovation ecosystem, and AWS will support the advancement of AI with a collaboration-centered approach rather than going it alone."
He added, "AWS will continue to improve infrastructure efficiency and build an environment in which AI can develop safely and transparently, supporting the Asia-Pacific region in establishing itself as a global center of AI innovation."