Over 1,700 business leaders from around the world, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, are set to convene in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, later this month for the 2025 APEC CEO Summit, the largest private economic forum ever hosted in Korea.
According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the APEC CEO Summit will now run from October 28 to 31 — extended by one day from its initial three-day plan. The event is expected to draw leaders from 16 of APEC’s 21 member economies and about 1,700 CEOs.
Expected attendees include Nvidia’s Huang, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, Google’s Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific Simon Kahn, Citi Group CEO Jane Fraser, and Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann are also anticipated to attend the summit.
Nvidia says Huang will discuss the company’s vision for AI
During the four-day summit, business and policy leaders will debate global economic and geopolitical trends, digital transformation, sovereign AI frameworks, digital currencies, and innovations that are shaping the future of mobility.
As host, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appointed its chairman, Chey Tae-won, to lead the summit. He will guide sessions from the October 28 opening banquet through the October 31 closing ceremony.
Nvidia has confirmed that CEO Jensen Huang, one of the most highly anticipated participants, will attend. He is set to outline Nvidia’s vision for AI, robotics, digital twins, and autonomous driving. Industry insiders suggest he may also hold side meetings with Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong and KCCI’s Chey Tae-won, and perhaps visit some Samsung or SK Hynix chip sites. Huang is slated to deliver his speech on the summit’s final day.
Industry leaders from sectors spanning finance to energy will also take the stage, including Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Johnson & Johnson’s Joaquin Duato, JPMorgan’s Daniel Pinto, Marubeni’s Masayuki Omoto, Hitachi’s Toshiaki Tokunaga, Sinochem’s Li Fanrong, CATL’s Zeng Yuqun, and Deloitte’s David Hill.
Global figures such as IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and OECD head Mathias Cormann, along with Korean tech executives Choi Soo-yeon of Naver and Lee Hong-lak of LG AI Research, will join them.
This year’s summit may foster closer relations between the public and private sectors, as companies meet individually with APEC heads of state and ministers to explore concrete business and investment opportunities.
So far, economists have estimated that the gathering will add roughly 7.4 trillion won ($5.2 billion) to Korea’s economy and create 22,000 employment opportunities. KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Park Il-jun commented on the summit: “The 2025 APEC CEO Summit will become a practical cooperation platform that turns challenges facing Korean companies into new opportunities.”
The Korea Meteorological Administration is partnering with Nvidia
Nvidia has been expanding its reach in South Korea. The semiconductor company has been working with the Korea Meteorological Administration to enhance AI-driven weather prediction systems.
The companies are collaborating to deploy Cosmos, an AI foundation model created for self-driving and robotics, to boost the accuracy of rainfall predictions.
Jeff Adie, a senior engineer at Nvidia, gave his statement on their project: “We aim to ultimately make climate information public so that everyone can access it in the future, with the long-term goal of predicting climate change patterns.”
Nvidia-backed startup Cohere also opened up an office in South Korea to serve as an Asia-Pacific hub. The AI company still tailors its large language models to meet the needs of regulated industries, helping clients in finance, healthcare, energy, and government securely automate tasks, including risk assessment and quality monitoring.
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