President Lee meets with AWS CEO Matt Garman; additional investment of 7 trillion won in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province; global business leaders emphasize Korea as a key hub for global business strategies.
President Lee Jae-myung met with Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman, who was visiting Korea on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, the Blue House announced on the 29th.
At this event, CEO Gaman announced plans to invest a total of more than $50 billion by 2031, including building new AI data centers in the Incheon and Gyeonggi areas.
Following its announcement of a $4 billion AI data center investment plan in Ulsan in June of this year, Amazon has now announced additional large-scale investment plans, breaking the record for the largest greenfield investment in Korea.
The Office of the President said that this is a reflection of the high growth potential and IT competitiveness of the domestic AI industry, as well as the government's will to foster the AI industry.
The president said, “The Korean government is actively pursuing the construction of an ‘AI highway’ that will enable AI to be utilized at any time in industry and research fields, with the goal of becoming one of the top three global AI powerhouses.” He also evaluated, “Amazon’s decision to invest additionally in large-scale AI data centers will further accelerate the development of the Korean AI ecosystem.”
The president also said, “I hope that Amazon will strengthen its partnerships with domestic companies and create various cooperation models as it pursues its business,” and added, “The Korean government will also actively play the role of a ‘bridge for prosperity’ moving forward together with global businesspeople.”
The President also attended the "Global Corporate Investment Partnership" event held immediately following his meeting with CEO Gaman. Representatives from seven global companies, including AWS, attended the event, and the participating companies announced investment plans totaling $9 billion (approximately 13 trillion won) in Korea over the next five years.
Investment areas span cutting-edge and core industries, including AI data centers, semiconductor packaging, future vehicles, displays, medical devices, and battery materials.
Representatives of global companies emphasized to the president that Korea is a key hub for global business strategies, and that this investment plan will further accelerate technological innovation while expanding domestic production capacity.
Nicolas Paris, CEO of Renault Korea, announced, “Based on our firm belief in Korea’s future vehicle ecosystem, we plan to invest in converting the existing production line at our Busan plant into an electric vehicle line,” and Vu Tran, CEO of Siemens Healthineers Asia Pacific, announced, “With the vision of making Korea a global ultrasound medical device production hub, we plan to expand our production line for cardiac ultrasound medical device parts in Pohang.”
In addition, Amkor Technology's expansion of semiconductor post-processing facilities, Corning's investment in advanced materials facilities for mobile devices, Umicore's expansion of its battery materials plant, and Air Liquide's expansion of its semiconductor specialty gas plant are expected to significantly contribute to stabilizing the domestic advanced sector supply chain.
The President expressed gratitude to the global business leaders who chose Korea, with its world-class manufacturing base, ICT capabilities, excellent human resources, and K-culture, as the optimal investment destination, and reaffirmed the Lee Jae-myung administration's active support for foreign investment.