"The core of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation is data and global infrastructure. If data is tied to on-premises (internal servers), AI cannot realize its potential, so it must be transferred to a modern cloud architecture. Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest an additional $40 billion by 2028 in 14 APEC countries and economies outside the United States for global infrastructure."
Matt Garman, AWS chief executive officer (CEO), said this on the 29th at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit "AI-powered economy" held at Gyeongju Arts Center in North Gyeongsang Province. In this session, the third prepared for the first day, global IT leaders including Choi Su-yeon, Naver CEO, Simon Milner, Meta vice president for Asia-Pacific public policy, and Matt Garman, AWS CEO, took the stage as speakers and emphasized that the two pillars of diversity and infrastructure investment will make AI innovation possible.
As the first speaker, CEO Choi said, "Around the world, many countries are competitively pushing to build AI data centers as mega national strategic projects, and the Korean government is also preparing for another national leap forward by building a new infrastructure called the AI expressway, following the information superhighway," and added, "Expanding tax benefits for AI data centers, streamlining administrative procedures, and easing location regulations will be practical support measures that inject great vitality on the ground."
Choi particularly stressed that the core of AI technology development is diversity. Choi said, "Naver has been able to defend the domestic search engine market because it embraced diversity," and added, "These efforts must continue in the AI era." Choi went on, "The foundation and key infrastructure for implementing AI technology that enables a better future for everyone are AI data centers," and said, "To that end, Naver has proactively invested in AI technology early on and, through this, has built a full-stack AI ecosystem that spans from infrastructure to models and services."
Choi also said of the special act being pursued by the government and the National Assembly to support AI data centers that it "will serve as the institutional foundation for shifting the national industrial structure to AI," and evaluated, "These proactive efforts by the government and the National Assembly are expected to be the bedrock for human-centered, inclusive AI that enables a better future for everyone, not just corporations."
Simon Milner, Meta vice president for Asia-Pacific public policy, emphasized open source based on diversity as Meta's AI innovation tool. Milner said, "Open-source AI is a powerful tool for inclusive economic growth," and added, "Open AI accelerates global economic growth and ensures that the benefits of technological advancement reach everyone." He added, "This direction of development will drive trillions of dollars in productivity gains across all sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and finance, in the APEC region over the next 10 years."
Milner revealed that Meta's ultimate goal is the development of "personal superintelligence AI" and introduced smart glasses as the key device to realize it. He said, "Smart glasses see what I see and listen to what I hear, allowing AI to best understand the user's situation, environment, and context," and added, "With glasses, people no longer have to lower their heads to look at smartphone screens as they do now, and they can fully use AI's functions while focusing on the real world."
Milner said, "Future AI will go beyond a simple tool to become a true agent that learns from users, adapts, and solves problems," and revealed, "To realize this vision, Meta plans to invest about $600 billion in the United States over the next three years." He added, "In particular, we are building infrastructure to realize AI superintelligence," and noted, "We are constructing ultra-large, multi-gigawatt data centers, including Prometheus in Ohio and Hyperion in Louisiana."
As the final speaker, Matt Garman, CEO, spoke about the boundless possibilities of AI. He said, "If cloud computing was the biggest technological shift over the past 20 years, Generative AI will be an even greater turning point," and added, "Unlike AI chatbots two years ago, AI agents are generating the return on investment (ROI) customers expected." He continued, "AI agents go beyond simple text summarization to understand business, make decisions, and act on behalf of users," and added, "They can handle thousands of tasks simultaneously, keep learning, and provide customized results that reflect the characteristics and flow of corporations."
Garman said, "The core of these changes is data; data is a corporation's intellectual asset and the factor that differentiates competitiveness," and evaluated, "Corporations that have their data in a modern cloud architecture environment are currently delivering the greatest results." He added, "Global infrastructure is also important," and said, "AWS has already made large-scale investments in Japan, Australia, and Singapore, and has opened new Regions in places such as New Zealand, Thailand, and Malaysia," and added, "In Korea, we are building a dedicated AI Region in Ulsan in collaboration with SK Group, and we are also expanding the existing Seoul Region."