Former Presidential AI Future Planning Senior Secretary Ha Jeong-woo: "Suwon Should Serve as Brain of AI Transformation Alliance, with Nationwide Production Base Division of Labor"

Ha Jeong-woo, former Presidential AI Future Planning Senior Secretary and speaker at the 182nd "New Perspective, Shining Time—Suwon Saebic Forum," announced that "we can establish an AI Transformation (AX) Alliance centered on Suwon for semiconductors in South Korea's southern region."

At the Suwon Saebic Forum held on the 12th at the City Hall Grand Auditorium, he delivered a lecture on the theme "Beyond Digital Transformation (DX) to AI Transformation (AX): Korea's Number One AI Hub, Suwon Special City's Quantum Jump."

Former Senior Secretary Ha stated, "Suwon is a central city in southern Gyeonggi with major industries such as semiconductors and biotechnology, so we can establish a 'Southern Korea Semiconductor AI Transformation (AX) Belt centered on Suwon,'" and predicted that "Suwon can play the role of an AI brain city, while other national hubs take on the role of producing and mass-producing semiconductor AI transformation (AX) products."

Former Senior Secretary Ha emphasized, "The widely used open artificial intelligence and other AI created abroad that we are currently using—when we consider the importance of AI, we must create and use Korea's own AI and strategically leverage AI as an asset."

Presenting five major strengths of Korea's AI as △third-place global competitiveness in Foundation Models △world's number one producer and exporter of memory semiconductors △strong manufacturing industry environment △power competitiveness centered on energy mix △rapidly increasing public AI acceptance and government AI strategy, he said, "It is only a matter of time before we establish ourselves as one of the world's three AI superpowers alongside the United States and China."

Former Senior Secretary Ha also discussed topics including △innovations brought about by AI in various fields such as manufacturing, finance, and biotechnology △directions for AI transformation (AX) in the manufacturing industry △regional AI transformation (AX) as an opportunity for youth growth, and educational innovation in the AI era.

Suwon Special City Mayor Lee Jae-jun met with former Senior Secretary Ha at his office prior to the forum. At the forum, Mayor Lee stated, "Suwon City can serve as Korea's research brain," and declared, "Based on abundant research personnel, we will advance toward becoming an advanced scientific research hub city that serves as the brain for the AI, semiconductor, and biotechnology industries."

Former Senior Secretary Ha graduated from the College of Engineering at Seoul National University and established himself as a recognized AI expert through his work as a research fellow at Samsung SDS and as director of the Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center.

The Suwon Saebic Forum is a high-quality lecture program that invites renowned figures from various sectors of society to share profound insights and contemporary trends, serving as a knowledge-sharing platform where citizens and public officials can grow together.