Minister Yoo Sang-im visited the U.S. headquarters of Nvidia to secure graphics processing units (GPUs). During meetings with senior officials responsible for science and technology policy in the Trump administration, he also discussed ways to enhance South Korea-U.S. research and development (R&D) cooperation.
The Ministry of Science and ICT stated that Minister Yoo visited Washington D.C. and San Francisco from 14th to 17th to discuss science and technology and information and communication issues with local corporations and the government.
Minister Yoo met with key Nvidia executives, including Jay Puri, executive vice president, and Calista Redmond, vice president, during his visit to Nvidia's U.S. headquarters. At this meeting, they discussed measures to smoothly secure Nvidia GPUs and agreed to collaborate on building AI infrastructure in South Korea.
On the 15th, he met with Lynne Parker, deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to discuss South Korea-U.S. science and technology cooperation strategies. The OSTP shared investment priorities of the Trump administration’s second term with the South Korean government and discussed R&D policies based on this. Minister Yoo noted plans to strengthen research security and discussed measures to lift designations of sensitive countries.
On the 14th, he held discussions with Brendan Carr, chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). At this meeting, the two countries shared information on preventing communication hacks, developing 6G technology, and standard activities, as well as discussing issues related to undersea cable security.
Additionally, Minister Yoo sought to explore South Korea-U.S. science and technology cooperation with Rebecca Keiser, acting Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination at the National Science Foundation (NSF), Jessica Robin, acting director of the International Science and Technology Division, and Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Minister Yoo Sang-im said, "Given that the proportion of cooperation with the U.S. is the largest among Korea's global joint research investments, it is important to quickly grasp and respond to the impact of the shifted R&D policy direction and strengthened research security policy of the Trump administration second term on our R&D." He elaborated, "Having initiated efforts to collaborate with Nvidia on GPUs, I expect a significant improvement in the domestic AI research environment."