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Lee Meets SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son for AI and Semiconductor Talks in Seoul

The meeting advances Lee’s bid to draw major AI infrastructure investment through initiatives like SoftBank’s Stargate.

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung meets with Masayoshi Son, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group Corp., at the Presidential House in Seoul, South Korea, December 5, 2025. Kim Min-Hee/Pool via REUTERS
President Lee Jae Myung (R) talks with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son during their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on Dec. 5, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a luncheon meeting with the leaders of the legislative, judiciary and administrative branches at the presidential office in Seoul on Dec. 3, 2025. (Yonhap)

Overview

  • President Lee hosted Son on Friday with Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, Policy Chief Kim Yong-bum, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan in attendance.
  • Lee outlined a goal of making AI a basic utility accessible to all users, likening it to water and sewage systems.
  • Son discussed the prospect of artificial superintelligence vastly exceeding human capability and urged planning for coexistence with AI.
  • The talks are part of Lee’s campaign to position South Korea among the top three AI powers following meetings with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
  • No investment commitments were announced, while Seoul is courting SoftBank on domestic infrastructure and exploring Korean participation in Stargate, including a UAE project estimated at roughly 30 trillion won.