President Lee Jae-myung, who is visiting New York to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly, met on the 22nd (local time) with Larry Fink, chairman of the world's largest asset manager BlackRock and chief executive officer (CEO), who also serves as chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF, Davos Forum). At the meeting, Fink said, "Under President Lee's leadership, Korea's stock market has hit an all-time high since the inauguration, and the political and economic situation is stabilizing quickly," adding, "We will actively cooperate by connecting global capital so that Korea can become the Asia-Pacific region's 'AI capital.'"
The meeting was Lee's first schedule in New York and was also attended by Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and Rep. Cha Ji-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea, who accompanied this U.S. trip. BlackRock is an asset manager with $12 trillion (about 1,600 trillion won) in assets under management and has formed the "AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP)" with Microsoft, Nvidia, and xAI to lead global AI (artificial intelligence) renewable energy infrastructure investment.
Lee welcomed Fink's stated intent to help build an "Asia-Pacific AI capital" and said, "Let's continue our close cooperation and produce tangible results." He also invited Fink to Korea. In connection with this, the Ministry of Science and ICT signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with BlackRock that day to cooperate on advancing the AI industry. The MOU includes discussing infrastructure cooperation related to domestic AI and renewable energy and exploring approaches to jointly respond to surging AI demand.
In particular, it also includes provisions for BlackRock to cooperate in building Korea's "APAC AI hub" and to discuss locating a renewable energy–based AI data center in Korea. It also specifies that the two sides will jointly prepare large-scale investments needed for AI and the renewable energy transition in the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years.
After the meeting, Rep. Cha Ji-ho said in a briefing, "The MOU includes a part where BlackRock will work toward large-scale joint investment," adding, "Large-scale investments by managers like BlackRock are typically in the tens of trillions of won." He also said, "Korea and BlackRock will form a task force (TF), discuss a joint investment portfolio, and announce the investment amount," adding, "We expect a pilot investment on the scale of several trillion won."