The U.S. venture capital (VC) firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which has created an US$1.1 billion (approximately KRW 1.49 trillion) artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and infrastructure fund, is sending its infrastructure investment team to Korea.

According to the VC industry on the 12th, the a16z infrastructure investment team and Raghu Raghuram, Managing Partner and General Partner, are visiting Korea this week to meet with key companies and stakeholders in the domestic AI hardware and infrastructure sector.

a16z is one of the six VCs that signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on investment cooperation with the National Pension Service during the “Silicon Valley Venture Investment Meetup” held in San Francisco in July, which was attended by President Lee Jae-myung.

a16z officially opened its Seoul office in June and has been expanding its engagement across Korea’s virtual asset and AI industries.

The “Machine Age Fund,” unveiled in August, is a US$1.1 billion (approximately KRW 1.49 trillion) fund established by a16z to invest in AI hardware and infrastructure technologies. Its investment targets include core hardware such as △semiconductors △computing △memory △networks, as well as foundational AI infrastructure technologies such as △power △cooling △data centers.

a16z believes that as AI extends from conversational services to areas such as inference and coding, the required computing workload is surging, while hardware and infrastructure including power, cooling, and data centers are failing to keep pace with the growing demand. The firm explained that AI infrastructure as a whole is hitting the limits of current supply chain capabilities and the physical and computer science constraints.

Accordingly, it has concluded that large-scale innovation and investment are needed across the physical infrastructure that underpins AI expansion—not only chips, memory, and networks, but also power, cooling, and data centers—and therefore launched a dedicated fund. a16z stated that in recent years, hardware startups have accounted for more than 20% of all investment review cases.

a16z cited semiconductors and robotics as key areas of cooperation with Korea. It views there as being many opportunities for collaboration in AI hardware and computing infrastructure, given Korea’s strengths in semiconductors, memory, and advanced manufacturing.

During the visit, the a16z investment team plans to discuss technology development and commercialization opportunities with Korean companies and to explore potential cooperation with a16z portfolio companies.

Partner Raghuram said, “Korea has world-class technological capabilities and a solid industrial base in key areas such as semiconductors and robotics,” adding, “We look forward to broadly discussing new technologies and business opportunities during this visit.”

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