SEOUL, July 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's science minister expressed willingness to promote investments in local companies from U.S. big tech firms, ahead of his planned trip to Silicon Valley later Thursday.

The key point of the visit will be to "strengthen cooperation so that big tech companies can invest in South Korea," Minister Bae Kyung-hoon told reporters after a meeting with chief executive officers (CEOs) of local telecom operators held in central Seoul.

Discussions will center on artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation and market expansion, AI data centers and semiconductors, he added.

Bae also said he plans to use the trip to promote South Korea's AI ecosystem, describing the trip as a summit aimed at showing the world what K-AI is.

The science minister is set to depart for San Francisco in the evening and meet with officials from U.S. big tech companies, including Broadcom, OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia.

Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon answers questions from reporters after a meeting with CEOs of South Korea's telecom operators held in central Seoul on July 23, 2026. (Yonhap)

fairydust@yna.co.kr
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