(Yonhap)
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, also chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Tuesday presented speed, scale, and safety as a key strategy for securing South Korea’s competitiveness in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
“AI competition is not just about algorithms – it is a total war of infrastructure and resources, including capital, electricity, GPUs, and memory,” Chey said. “How quickly and at what scale these elements are secured will determine national competitiveness.”
The remarks were made in a keynote speech during a policy seminar hosted by the Korea-China Parliamentarians’ Union on Tuesday at the National Assembly Members’ Hall.
“AI ultimately depends on how much data can be stored, and high bandwidth memory (HBM), which sits right next to GPUs, enhances speed and cost efficiency,” Chey said, noting that only three companies globally – SK hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron Technology – are capable of supplying HBM excluding China, while demand continues to outpace supply.
Chey also commented on TurboQuant, a technology that significantly reduces memory semiconductor usage by improving AI processing efficiency.
“If memory supply is not expanded quickly, technologies that use less memory will inevitably be developed, so supply must be increased as fast as possible,” he stressed.
He likened the importance of AI infrastructure to Korea’s past industrialization.
“Korea was able to grow into a global powerhouse in manufacturing and information technology (IT) because it made early investments in heavy and chemical industries and telecommunications networks,” he said. “Likewise, bold early-stage investment and infrastructure building in AI are essential to securing leadership in global competition.”
Chey assessed that Korea has sufficient potential to rapidly transition into an “AI-native country.”
“Many countries have yet to reach this stage,” he said. “How quickly we move from now on could reshape the competitive landscape. If we build infrastructure, aggregate demand, and rapidly layer applications on top, Korea can take the initiative in AI.”
He explained that such a strategy could lead to so-called “sovereign AI.”
“If we first build an AI ecosystem domestically and complete services and models, it could open up new industrial opportunities for export,” he said.
Addressing the social impact of AI expansion, Chey highlighted the concept of a “social value economy.”
While traditional capitalism has focused on “investing money to generate more money,” he noted that the future should shift toward a system that measures and rewards social value, such as job creation and environmental improvement.
He also emphasized the need to consider Korea’s geopolitical survival strategy alongside its AI industrial strategy.
Given the country’s inherent limitations in scale as a single nation, he argued for a strategic approach that goes beyond economic cooperation with countries like Japan to potentially include a certain level of integration.
“If Korea and Japan build cooperation and move toward forming an Asian economic bloc, it would strengthen our bargaining power,” he said.
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