TLDR: The Asia-Pacific region is set to become a global leader in artificial intelligence development, driven by significant agreements made at the recent APEC Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea. Leaders adopted a joint AI initiative focused on innovation-driven economic growth, enhanced capacity, and equitable distribution of AI benefits. Key developments include South Korea’s substantial acquisition of Nvidia AI chips and China’s proposal for a global AI governance body, underscoring a collective push for AI integration and cooperation across the region.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, held in Gyeongju, South Korea, from October 29 to November 1, 2025, concluded with a landmark consensus on artificial intelligence, positioning the region to lead the global AI race. Leaders from 21 member economies adopted a joint AI initiative aimed at fostering economic growth through innovation, enhancing AI capacity, spreading the benefits of AI inclusively, and expanding private investment in resilient AI infrastructure. This marks the first leader-level agreement and shared vision on AI within APEC, a forum representing nearly 60 percent of global GDP and almost half of global trade.
Experts at the APEC CEO Summit, which ran parallel to the leaders’ meeting, emphasized the region’s immense potential. Nitin Mittal, global AI leader at Deloitte, stated, “Asia will lead the world and be at the forefront of (AI),” attributing this to the region’s vast talent pool, high rate of innovation (especially open-source), and capacity for infrastructure investment. Mittal highlighted that AI is not merely a national competition but a tool to “harness the promise of AI for uplifting quality of life, advancement, and the next quantum leap that countries can take.”
Regional cooperation was a recurring theme. Kim Wan-joong, a special adviser to the 2025 APEC CEO Summit Secretariat, underscored that AI-driven growth necessitates joint efforts, not just individual company or country initiatives. “We have to use AI platform smartly and work together. That means the governments should take the initiative together.” He specifically noted the significant potential for deepened AI cooperation between South Korea and China, given their strong trade ties.
A major highlight of the summit was South Korea’s ambitious plan to secure 260,000 of Nvidia’s latest Blackwell AI chips, a deal reportedly worth up to US$10 billion. This acquisition will boost South Korea’s AI chip stock from approximately 65,000 to over 300,000 units, far surpassing its original goal of 45,000. Ha Jung-woo, presidential secretary for AI and future planning, revealed that this places South Korea third globally in compute capacity, behind the United States (around 20 million GPUs) and China. Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of AI startup Upstage, hailed the deal as a “first step toward AI sovereignty and global leadership,” while Bae Soon-min of KT Corp emphasized the “true unity through AI technology” observed at APEC.
China also played a pivotal role, with President Xi Jinping proposing a global body to govern artificial intelligence – a ‘World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation’. Xi suggested this organization could establish governance rules and boost cooperation, making AI a “public good for the international community.” This initiative positions China as an alternative to the United States on AI regulation, which has historically been more resistant to international oversight in this domain.
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The APEC Ministerial Meeting, held prior to the leaders’ summit, reaffirmed commitment to sustainable growth, focusing on three key priorities: ‘Connect,’ ‘Innovate,’ and ‘Prosper.’ Ministers stressed the importance of innovation and emerging technologies, including AI, to promote sustainable and inclusive growth across the Asia-Pacific. The consensus reached at Gyeongju signals a concerted regional effort to navigate the complexities and harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence for collective prosperity.
