South Korea’s President Lee hosts US tech summit, signals massive AI and semiconductor push

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is bringing the country’s biggest corporate names to San Francisco for an AI summit on July 25, sitting down with the CEOs of Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Broadcom in a single day. The goal: position South Korea as a cornerstone of the global AI supply chain and lock in investment commitments from Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies.

For crypto markets, the signal is worth reading carefully. South Korea, one of the world’s most active retail trading markets for digital assets, is sending its president on an 11-day international trip built entirely around semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI. Not a single blockchain or crypto initiative appears on the agenda.

What’s actually happening in San Francisco

President Lee will hold one-on-one meetings with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan.

On the Korean side, Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, and Naver founder and Chair Lee Hae-jin will all be in attendance.

The centerpiece of the summit is something Lee is calling the “San Francisco AI Declaration,” a cooperative framework for global AI development. The president will also host a networking dinner and engage directly with Silicon Valley venture capitalists to secure concrete investment pledges.

“I’d like to present a vision for the future of AI and propose global cooperation to make it happen,” Lee said.

Three megaprojects and the money backing them

On June 29, the Lee administration announced three national megaprojects focused on semiconductors, hyperscale AI data centers, and physical AI. These are backed by substantial investment commitments from South Korea’s major chip manufacturers.

Samsung and SK Hynix together dominate global DRAM and NAND flash memory production.

Physical AI, the third megaproject, refers to AI systems that interact with the real world: robotics, autonomous vehicles, industrial automation. Hyundai Motor Group’s presence at the summit reflects that focus.

What this means for investors

South Korea has historically been one of crypto’s most enthusiastic retail markets. Korean exchanges have consistently ranked among the highest-volume platforms globally, and the so-called “Kimchi premium,” where crypto prices trade higher on Korean exchanges than global averages, became a well-known market indicator.

When the same government that oversees that vibrant crypto trading ecosystem chooses to build its entire international economic strategy around semiconductors and AI, investors should take note. It doesn’t mean Korea is hostile to crypto. It means the policy priority ladder has AI and chips sitting firmly at the top.

President Lee’s direct engagement with Silicon Valley VCs suggests South Korea wants to attract not just corporate partnerships but startup ecosystem capital. If the San Francisco AI Declaration includes language about data governance, compute sovereignty, or technology transfer standards, the ripple effects could reach well beyond traditional AI companies.

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