Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, said on the 20th, "For Korea to truly grow, the artificial intelligence (AI) market is necessary." He then made five proposals for building the 'AI market,' including expanding the AI one-stop voucher program and making AI a compulsory subject in elementary and secondary schools, directed toward President Lee Jae-myung.
On the same day, at the AI global cooperation corporations meeting hosted by President Lee held at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center (UECO), Chairman Chey noted, "SK Group will collaborate with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and attract the world's leading technology companies to enhance the capabilities of our corporations and play a role in making Korea a global hub."
SK Group is establishing an AI data center at the Ulsan Mipo National Industrial Complex alongside AWS. The AI data center is expected to incorporate 60,000 graphic processing units (GPUs), marking the largest scale to date. The investment scale is 7 trillion won.
Chairman Chey emphasized, "The Ulsan AI data center will play a critical role as the best AI highway and essential infrastructure," adding, "It is currently being constructed at 100 megawatts (MW), but it will be expanded to 1 gigawatt (GW) in the future to respond to the domestic AI demand and elevate its role as a global hub."
He further stated, "Including corporations, startups, research institutions, small business owners, and small and medium-sized enterprises, I believe there is a need to significantly expand the government's voucher program to make AI infrastructure affordable and easy to use. By increasing the utilization of AI infrastructure, the potential market will grow, and these benefits will spread throughout the economy."
Regarding the government's plan to nurture AI startups, he explained, "I believe we can cultivate 20,000 AI startups within the next five years through an AI startup fund," adding, "Large corporations, including SK, will also prepare ways to collaborate extensively with startups, moving beyond coexistence to becoming 'co-creating' corporations."
Chairman Chey stressed the need for a government-led formation of the AI market. He mentioned, "I want the government to become a consumer. Each department should place orders for AI applications, thereby allowing the government to become an AI-driven government. I believe this innovation can significantly generate public demand."
Additionally, Chairman Chey asserted, "We need to take steps to cultivate 10 million AI talents. It is necessary to raise an AI-native generation and create a society without an AI divide," emphasizing, "We should make it a compulsory subject at universities so that every college student can naturally develop skills to use AI."
Meanwhile, Chairman Chey requested President Lee to designate Ulsan as an AI special zone. He said, "If Ulsan is designated as a mega sandbox specialized in AI, I believe we can make Ulsan a hub for manufacturing AI and pioneer the future."