(News Focus) Lee advances S. Korea’s AI chip hub vision with U.S. deals, S. America critical mineral cooperation
By Park Boram
ROK AIR FORCE ONE, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) — President Lee Jae Myung has taken a major step toward cementing South Korea’s presence as a global artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor hub with a trip that helped secure chip supply deals with U.S. tech giants and expand critical mineral cooperation with South American countries, officials said Sunday.
Lee wrapped up his back-to-back trips to San Francisco and three South American countries and is now set for a brief stop in Frankfurt on his way back to Seoul.
During the first stop of his tour in San Francisco on July 24-25, the president met with the chiefs of four U.S. tech companies, including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Jensen Huang of Nvidia, while attending a joint meeting with them alongside South Korean conglomerate leaders.
The meetings resulted in a series of cooperation projects worth a total of US$950 billion, including a long-term deal under which SK Group, the parent group of semiconductor giant SK hynix, will supply $750 billion worth of high-performance chips to Nvidia and other tech companies.
President Lee Jae Myung (R) and Jensen Huang, the chief of U.S. tech giant Nvidia Corp., shake hands during their meeting in San Francisco on July 24, 2026. (Yonhap)
At the meetings, President Lee outlined a vision to make South Korea a trustworthy production base and supply partner for AI semiconductors, vowing to turn the country into a key pillar in the AI supply chain.
“Based on the world’s highest-level competitiveness and production capacity in memory semiconductors we have, (South Korea) will become a trustworthy AI chip production base and supply chain partner,” the president said in what his office called the “San Francisco AI Declaration.”
The declaration came as Lee seeks to establish South Korea as an AI semiconductor powerhouse amid the global AI boom, which has driven local chipmakers’ revenues to record highs.
In June, the Lee administration unveiled the “three megaprojects,” an ambitious plan that aims to generate more than 4,000 trillion won (US$2.77 trillion) in investment to develop a semiconductor production cluster, advance physical AI and build AI data centers as future growth engines.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (L) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pose for a photo after their summit at the Brazilian presidential palace in Brasilia on July 27, 2026. (Yonhap)
The latest five-nation trip sought to lay a solid foundation for South Korea’s vision of becoming a global AI semiconductor hub amid increasingly fragile global supply chains and a shifting global economic order shaped by regional conflicts and rising trade protectionism.
Lee’s subsequent tour of three South American countries reinforced that strategy by securing cooperation on critical mineral supply chains and advancing efforts toward a trade deal with the regional trade bloc Mercosur, helping diversify supply and trade partnerships to support the country’s AI semiconductor ambitions.
On the first stop in Brazil, Lee held a summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last Monday and agreed to strengthen cooperation in critical and strategic minerals, including rare earths.
The two leaders also agreed on the importance of resuming stalled negotiations on a trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur. Brazil is one of four founding members of Mercosur, one of the world’s largest trade blocs, whose members include Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, along with several associate members.
During his visit to Chile, Lee and Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast agreed to reactivate a joint committee to modernize their countries’ bilateral free trade agreement while pledging to strengthen cooperation in critical mineral supply chains. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and possesses some of the world’s largest lithium reserves.
During the final stop of his South America tour in Argentina, Lee and Argentine President Javier Milei agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on critical minerals, including by pursuing joint projects across the entire lithium value chain.
Argentina is home to the world’s fourth-largest lithium reserves.
The summit also included the signing of a memorandum of understanding under which the two countries will share information on critical mineral policies and pursue joint projects across the entire lithium value chain, including exploration and mining.
Securing stable supplies of copper and lithium is seen as the key to strengthening South Korea’s semiconductor supply chain. Copper is essential for chip manufacturing and packaging, while lithium underpins the battery industry that complements the country’s broader high-tech manufacturing ecosystem.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (L) and Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast pose for a photo after a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Santiago on July 30, 2026. (Yonhap)
Lee’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac described the latest overseas tour as presenting South Korea’s vision of becoming a global AI semiconductor supply hub to the international community while laying the foundation for bilateral and corporate cooperation to achieve that goal.
“It served as an opportunity to establish the cooperative ties needed for South Korea to become a central pillar of the global AI supply chain,” Wi said.
“With the three South American countries, cooperative frameworks have been established at the country-to-country level to secure critical minerals essential to the entire AI supply chain, including semiconductors, AI hardware and AI data centers,” the official added.
Lee’s meetings with the heads of U.S. tech companies, in particular, helped deepen collaboration between the companies and their South Korean counterparts, enhancing the scale and feasibility of South Korea’s three megaprojects, Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy, said.
Back in Seoul, Lee will have to grapple with an overheated real estate market and increasing volatility in the stock market while pursuing his AI-driven industrial agenda.
In Frankfurt, Lee was set to meet with members of the Korean community in Germany before heading home later in the day.
President Lee Jae Myung (L) and Argentine President Javier Milei pose for a photo ahead of their summit at the Argentine presidential palace, Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires on July 31, 2026. (Yonhap)
pbr@yna.co.kr
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