TLDR: SK Group, led by Chairman Chey Tae-won, played a pivotal role in the 2025 APEC CEO Summit, hosting key discussions on artificial intelligence and energy. The summit brought together global leaders to address the future of AI, including governance and ethics, and the strategic importance of LNG for energy security in the Asia-Pacific region. SK Group announced significant investments in AI infrastructure, including an AI factory powered by Nvidia GPUs.
SK Group took a leading role in shaping the agenda at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, which concluded its four-day program from October 29 to 31. Held in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, the summit convened leaders from 21 APEC member economies and approximately 1,700 global business executives to deliberate on the future of critical industries, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and energy.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won served as the summit host, with various SK affiliates showcasing innovative ideas and guiding discussions to explore new opportunities. A significant highlight was the ‘Future Tech Forum Series: AI,’ hosted by SK Group on October 28. This forum gathered prominent figures in the AI supply chain, including Chairman Chey, Korea’s senior presidential secretary for AI Ha Jung-woo, Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, OpenAI Korea General Manager Kim Kyoung-hoon, and Meta Vice President Simon Milner. The discussions centered on how AI is driving regional innovation and the crucial challenges APEC economies face regarding AI governance and ethics.
Further emphasizing its commitment to AI, Chairman Chey announced that SK Group’s capabilities in the AI value chain would be further detailed at the upcoming 2025 SK AI Summit, scheduled for November 3 at Coex in southern Seoul. This event is set to feature industry luminaries such as Anthropic co-founder Ben Mann, Nvidia Head of Semiconductor Engineering Tim Costa, and Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a as speakers. On October 31, Chey also held a meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the sidelines of the CEO Summit, where they discussed their partnership on physical AI and the development of the Korean AI ecosystem. As a tangible outcome, SK Group plans to establish an AI factory, which will be powered by more than 50,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs).
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In the energy sector, SK Innovation, the group’s energy affiliate, hosted the ‘Asia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Connect’ session during the APEC CEO Summit. This session brought together CEOs from ten global energy firms, including Hanwha FutureProof, Continental Resources, Freeport LNG, NextDecade, Tokyo Gas, and Petronas. Participants engaged in discussions on the strategic importance of U.S. LNG for ensuring energy security in the Asia-Pacific region and explored pathways to enhance the sustainability of the LNG industry.
