President Lee Jae-myung on the 29th met with Matt Garman, the head of Amazon Web Services (AWS), on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Gyeongju and said, "Amazon's decision to make additional large-scale investments in AI data centers will further accelerate the development of the AI ecosystem in the Republic of Korea." AWS said it will invest a total of $5 billion (about 7 trillion won) by 2031 in the Incheon and Gyeonggi areas to build new AI data centers and more. Including Amazon, the aggregates of investments in Korea released by seven global corporations total $9 billion (about 13 trillion won).
That morning at the Gyeongju Arts Center, the president said, "With the goal of leaping into the world's top three in AI, the Korean government is actively pushing to build an 'AI highway' so AI can be used anytime in industry and research." Lee added, "We look forward to Amazon strengthening partnerships with domestic corporations during business execution and creating diverse cooperation models," and said, "The Korean government will also actively play a 'bridge for prosperity' role, moving into the future together with global business leaders."
Earlier, in June this year, Amazon released a plan to invest $4 billion in AI data centers in Ulsan. Taking the Gyeongju APEC as an opportunity, it released an additional large-scale investment plan, again setting a new record for Korea's "largest-ever greenfield investment." The presidential office said this was "a result that reflects the high growth potential of the domestic AI industry, Korea's IT competitiveness, and the government's commitment to fostering the AI industry."
After meeting with Garman, the president attended the "global corporations investment partnership" event hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The event was attended by seven global corporations' leaders, including Garman; Nicolas Paris, Korea CEO of Renault; Lee Jin-an, Korea CEO of Amkor Technology; Vaughn Hall, Korea CEO of Corning; Nicolas Foirien, Korea CEO of Air Liquide; Vy Tran, Asia-Pacific CEO of Siemens Healthineers; and Karena Cancilleri, CEO of the battery division at Umicore.
They said they would invest a total of $9 billion (about 13 trillion won), including AWS's investment plans, over the next five years in advanced and key industries such as AI data centers, semiconductor packaging, and electric vehicles, displays (materials), medical devices, and batteries (materials).
According to the presidential office, the global corporations' leaders said they would accelerate the expansion of production capacity and technological innovation in Korea. Nicolas Paris, CEO of Renault, said, "Based on firm confidence in Korea's future-mobility ecosystem, we plan to invest in converting the existing production line at the Busan plant into an electric-vehicle line," and Vy Tran, the head of Siemens Healthineers, said, "To make Korea a global ultrasound medical device production hub, we will expand the production line for cardiac ultrasound medical device components in Pohang."