Lee, Chung Join Jensen Huang on Global AI Advisory Board

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based customized news recommendation and summarization service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. Chairmen Lee Jae-yong, Euisun Chung Join Global AI Council with Jensen Huang, Nadella

- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Euisun Chung have been appointed as members of the global advisory board of "Silicon Valley & The World," an international AI cooperation body that includes Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The event, to be held for the first time in Silicon Valley, U.S., this coming November, will be attended by about 350 people, including AI innovators, global corporate CEOs and policymakers from major nations, to discuss cases of technological progress and industry issues. The advisory board includes a large number of figures representing the AI semiconductor, cloud, automotive and finance sectors, such as Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet and Anthropic President Daniela Amodei. The two chairmen are also expected to attend an "AI Summit" to be held in San Francisco, U.S., on the 24th and 25th, where they will discuss ways to expand AI infrastructure alongside SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Naver Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin.

2. "Strong AI Demand"…Google to Pour 300 Trillion Won This Year

- Key Summary: Google parent Alphabet has raised its capital expenditure scale for this year to between $195 billion and $205 billion (about 285.98 trillion to 300.61 trillion won), as robust AI demand was confirmed with second-quarter cloud revenue surging 82% year-on-year. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said, "We have confirmed strong demand indicators, including long-term contracts," adding that the situation is "much more positive than a year ago." However, Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of minus $5.9 billion in the second quarter, the first such occurrence since its listing in 2004. In addition, OpenAI announced a plan to build a 3.2-gigawatt (GW) data center in Georgia, illustrating the intensifying competition among big tech firms in AI infrastructure investment.

3. U.S. 'Forced-Labor Tariffs' Could Be Imposed as Early as Tomorrow…Will Korea Defend 15%?

- Key Summary: U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer has signaled that tariffs on imports produced through forced labor, based on Section 301 of the Trade Act, could be imposed on countries as early as the 23rd. Earlier, the USTR had included Korea among 54 countries that failed in their forced-labor ban policies and enforcement, placing it on the list for an additional 12.5% tariff. In that case, Korea's final tariff rate would exceed the existing reciprocal tariff of 15%. Korea maintains its position that the 15% tariff cap reached through the two nations' trade agreement should be upheld. Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters during a visit to Washington, D.C., that, along with plans for related discussions, the first investment project in the U.S. could be announced in late August or in September.

4. Autonomous Driving Startups in Gwangju Fret Over 'GPU Cliff'

- Key Summary: RideFlux and Autonomous a2z, which are participating in the Gwangju autonomous driving demonstration project pursued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, are struggling to secure high-performance in-vehicle GPUs. As Nvidia distributes its high-spec autonomous driving chip "Thor" only to some partner companies, the two startups are producing components with the existing "Orin" chips, while Hyundai Motor, which is participating in the same project, is known to have already secured hundreds of Thor units. Along with this, there is also a shortage of data center GPUs for AI model training, and some startups are even mobilizing personal graphics cards (the RTX series) for development. The land ministry plans to provide 100 H100 units, an older-generation GPU, to each of the two startups in October, but voices in the industry say additional support at the level of 200 units based on the new B200 GPU is needed.

5. Samsung Electro-Mechanics Wins 300 Billion Won MLCC Order for AI Servers from Global Company

- Key Summary: Samsung Electro-Mechanics has signed a contract worth about 300 billion won to supply multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) for AI servers to a large global company. The supply period runs for one year from January 1 to December 31 next year, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics did not disclose the customer's name in accordance with confidentiality conditions. This contract follows a 1.5 trillion won long-term silicon capacitor contract in May and a 450 billion won AI server MLCC supply contract in June, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics maintains a global leading position in the market with a share of more than 40%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics President Chang Duck-hyun stressed, "Based on the firm trust of our customers, we will develop next-generation cutting-edge products at speed."

6. LS Electric Sets 'Earnings Record' Riding the Power Megacycle

- Key Summary: LS Electric posted revenue of 1.577 trillion won and operating profit of 178.5 billion won in the second quarter of this year, achieving its highest-ever quarterly earnings. These figures represent increases of 32.2% and 64.4% respectively from a year earlier, with the data center power distribution business and the extra-high-voltage transformer business driving results. In particular, extra-high-voltage transformer revenue surged 91.2% from the previous year. In the North American market, the company posted quarterly revenue of 400 billion won, setting a new regional record, buoyed by the modernization of aging power grids and expanding data center power demand. In Europe, ASEAN and the Middle East, it also showed revenue growth of 21% in Spain, 34% in Vietnam and 42% in the Middle East, demonstrating even growth across all global regions.