AI와 수소로 재편되는 산업 지도: 한국 기업들의 대전환과 도전 > K-wave Trends

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Korea goes beyond simply discussing the semiconductor supply chain and is a prelude to the era of 'physical AI' that projects generative AI into the real economy. The so-called 'Samso (pork belly, soju) meeting' with the heads of major domestic groups such as SK, LG, and Naver suggests that NVIDIA and Korean companies are evolving beyond a simple supplier-customer relationship into closely integrated strategic partners in industrial fields such as robots, autonomous driving, and AI factories. In particular, Hyundai Motor Group is accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing sites by establishing an AI application center in Korea with NVIDIA, and LG Group is focusing on combining hardware capabilities such as housekeeping robots and smart home appliances with an AI platform. This alliance is aimed at the enormous synergy that will be created when Korea's solid manufacturing base and NVIDIA's overwhelming AI computing power meet.

Changes in the financing methods of global big tech companies prove how massive the scale of AI infrastructure construction is. Meta and Google are considering aggressive capital raising strategies, such as paid-in capital increase or issuance of mandatory convertible preferred stock, to raise funds for AI infrastructure investment worth hundreds of trillions of won. This is in line with Goldman Sachs' forecast that global capital expenditures for AI data centers and related infrastructure will reach tens of trillions of won over the next five years. Following this trend in the domestic stock market, Samsung Group stocks, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics, are changing the market landscape by sweeping the top rankings in market capitalization due to expectations of supplying AI components. This is an example that goes beyond a simple increase in stock prices and shows that the growth of the huge industry called AI is completely re-evaluating the valuation of individual companies.

Saemangeum is now attempting to transform beyond a simple reclaimed land into a key base for Korea's hydrogen and AI industries. Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yun-deok's personal visit to China's hydrogen value chain shows the government's strong will to execute without a hitch the 9 trillion won investment project promised to Hyundai Motor Group. China has already commercialized the entire hydrogen cycle from production to storage, transportation, and utilization through the Beijing Daxing Demonstration Zone and the Inner Mongolia Green Hydrogen Production Base. The government is drawing a blueprint to simultaneously build future energy independence and a high-tech industrial ecosystem by closely analyzing these leading cases and creating an optimized green hydrogen production base and AI-based smart hydrogen city in Saemangeum.

The external economic situation is not encouraging. The won-dollar exchange rate is soaring to its highest level in 28 years, putting pressure on our economy. This is the result of the reverse remittance of foreign funds and the expansion of companies' overseas direct investment despite strong exports. The dollar drought in the foreign exchange market is worsening as large corporations use dollars directly locally instead of exchanging them domestically to reorganize their supply chains, such as building factories in the United States. The government is taking measures to crack down on speculative transactions and improve transparency in the foreign exchange market, but fundamentally, there is an urgent need for structural change so that foreign currency earned by domestic companies can flow back into the domestic economy in a virtuous cycle. This high exchange rate environment can lead to rising prices and a burden on domestic demand, so a more careful policy response is required.

Bold investments and challenges for the future are spreading beyond borders and throughout Asia. The global investment attraction roadshow held by Gyeonggi Province in Singapore served as a practical bridge to help AI and IT startups in the province be recognized for their competitiveness in the Asian market and receive funding. In addition, with the emergence of giant dinosaurs in the space industry such as Space As in the case of Space