Demis Hassabis, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google DeepMind, who is visiting Korea, has held a series of meetings with the heads of the country’s four major conglomerates to pursue cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI). As global competition for AI supremacy intensifies, analysts say an “AI alliance” is taking shape in earnest between Google, which seeks to expand its ecosystem, and leading Korean companies with core manufacturing capabilities.

According to business circles on the 28th, CEO Hassabis met Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun at a location in Seoul in the morning to discuss strengthening cooperation in robotics and AI businesses. Hyundai Motor Group is collaborating with Google in the vehicle software field, and its subsidiary Boston Dynamics is also working with Google DeepMind on robot AI cooperation.

The same morning, CEO Hassabis also held a closed-door meeting with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul. Koo and Hassabis were reported to have focused on expanding a robotics-based “physical AI” ecosystem and on ways to create synergies between the two companies’ research organizations.

In the afternoon, Hassabis visited Samsung Electronics’ headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and met with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong. The two sides were reported to have discussed cooperation in building a supply chain for high bandwidth memory (HBM), which is essential for running Google’s in-house AI semiconductor, the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), as well as collaboration in the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) sector and in mobile and home appliance businesses. Key executives including Roh Tae-moon, President and Head of Samsung Electronics’ Device eXperience (DX) Division, also attended the meeting.

CEO Hassabis then met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and other key SK Group executives. The discussions were reportedly focused on securing a supply of memory semiconductors such as next-generation HBM to support the recent surge in AI computing infrastructure.

The business community interprets this series of meetings as a multi-pronged move by Google to extend its influence across the global AI industry. Stable memory procurement is essential for advancing its computing infrastructure and embedding its AI into everyday domains such as mobile devices, automobiles, and robots, making cooperation with Korean companies indispensable. An industry official analyzed, “Google DeepMind and major Korean conglomerates both need each other,” adding, “They aim to leverage alliances with global big tech to gain an edge in the increasingly fierce competition for leadership in future technologies.”

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