BlackRock chairman who met President Lee: "Korea, actively cooperate to become Asia's AI capital"

President Lee Jae-myung on the 22nd (local time) in New York, U.S., met with Larry Fink, chairman of the world's largest asset manager BlackRock, and agreed to cooperate on building domestic artificial intelligence (AI) data centers as well as renewable energy generation and storage infrastructure.

Ha Jung-woo, Presidential Office AI Future Planning Chief, held a briefing at the local press center after the meeting between President Lee and Larry Fink, saying, "President Lee and Larry Fink discussed humanity's major transformative challenges of AI, energy transition, and demographic change," and "they confirmed a consensus for strategic cooperation between Korea and global investors."

BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager with assets under management of about $12.5 trillion. Cha Ji-ho, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party who attended the meeting, relayed that Larry Fink told the president, "We will do our utmost to connect global capital to make Korea an AI capital." Cha said, "It is significant that a major investor like BlackRock said it would make Korea an Asia-Pacific AI hub."

At the ceremony watched by President Lee, the Ministry of Science and ICT and Larry Fink signed an MOU that included △domestic AI and renewable energy infrastructure cooperation △cooperation to build an Asia-Pacific AI hub in Korea △and the establishment of a global cooperation framework.

To cooperate on domestic AI and renewable energy infrastructure, they agreed to explore an integrated approach that combines data centers with renewable energy generation and storage facilities. They also agreed to discuss placing a hyperscale AI data center powered by renewable energy in Korea. The plan is to develop it as a hub that can cover not only domestic demand but demand across the Asia-Pacific region.

To ensure the MOU leads to concrete domestic investment by BlackRock, the Ministry of Science and ICT and BlackRock will form a separate task force (TF). Cha said, "Once the TF determines the portfolio composition for joint investment, the specific investment amount can be announced," adding, "A pilot investment on the order of trillions of won is expected." BlackRock's GIP will participate as a financial investor (FI). GIP chairman Adebayo Ogunlesi and Jim Yong Kim, partner and vice chairman and former World Bank president, also attended the meeting.

The Presidential Office said, "Through an official cooperation partnership with the world's largest asset manager, the government will open growth opportunities in key areas such as data centers, renewable energy, and power grids, and seek to have the Korean market recognized as a reliable investment destination within the international financial ecosystem to attract more diverse global capital in the future."

New York = Reporter Han Jaeyoung jyhan@hankyung.com