South Korea has stepped up efforts to deepen artificial intelligence cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, as government bodies from both countries move to align investment strength with technological expertise in a bid to compete in the rapidly evolving global AI market.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, alongside the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee, hosted the Korea-UAE AI Infrastructure and Semiconductor Investment Forum on May 13 at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Seoul. The event marks a concrete follow-up to discussions initiated during the UAE’s state visit to South Korea last November, when both sides agreed to establish a joint public-private working group focused on advancing collaboration across the AI ecosystem.
Officials from both countries emphasized that global competition in artificial intelligence is increasingly taking shape as a state-level strategic race, requiring coordinated national approaches. Against this backdrop, the forum served as a platform to formalize a long-term partnership framework spanning AI infrastructure, semiconductor development, AI models, and related services.
A central theme of the discussions was the integration of South Korea’s strengths in AI semiconductors, manufacturing, and data center technologies with the UAE’s capacity for large-scale investment and project execution. Participants highlighted the importance of developing low-power, high-efficiency AI infrastructure driven by neural processing unit (NPU)-based chips, as well as advancing AI model services tailored to native languages—an area closely linked to the growing demand for AI translation capabilities.
The forum featured high-level panel sessions, corporate presentations, and business matching programs designed to translate policy dialogue into tangible commercial outcomes. Korean companies presented their technological capabilities and business models across AI semiconductor, infrastructure, and application sectors, while scheduled networking sessions aimed to facilitate direct investment discussions between companies from both sides.
Seoul signaled that the initiative is intended to move beyond symbolic cooperation, with a focus on launching joint projects and expanding into overseas markets together. By combining capital and technology, both countries are seeking to position themselves more competitively in the global AI value chain, particularly in areas such as infrastructure scaling and AI translation services that underpin cross-border digital ecosystems.