The San Francisco AI Declaration: 

New Horizons for the U.S.-Korea Alliance in an Era of Technological Competition

Eui-haeng Cho

Seoul Theological University

The global economy is undergoing a profound structural transformation. Free trade and market-driven efficiency—once the defining principles of globalization—are being reshaped by fragmented value chains, geopolitical tensions, and intensifying competition among nations for leadership in critical and emerging technologies. Today, economic security is inseparable from national security, while securing strategic technology supply chains and shaping global technology standards have emerged as critical challenges with direct implications for national resilience and competitiveness.

Amid intensifying U.S.-China competition over leadership in the global artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technology ecosystem, the recently announced “San Francisco AI Declaration” carries significant strategic, economic, and geopolitical implications. The declaration goes beyond articulating a vision for future technologies. It points toward a new economic paradigm for the AI era in which technology, industry, data, energy, and international cooperation are increasingly interconnected within a single, complex global supply-chain ecosystem.

The relationship between the United States—which remains at the forefront of global technological innovation—and South Korea—which possesses formidable manufacturing and production capabilities—must now move beyond its traditional focus on defense and security, as well as conventional trade and investment. The U.S.-Korea alliance should evolve into a comprehensive economic security and digital-industrial partnership that jointly strengthens supply chains for strategic industries—including semiconductors, shipbuilding, and AI—while promoting greater interoperability among digital regulations, infrastructure, and industrial ecosystems.

1. The Limits of Catch-Up Strategies in Frontier Technologies: The Case for a Real-World AI Hub

In the global AI ecosystem, the United States and China enjoy substantial advantages based on their access to massive pools of capital, proprietary frontier AI models, vast amounts of data, and highly skilled technical talent. Against this backdrop, if middle powers focus primarily on quantitative catch-up strategies—such as attempting to replicate large language models (LLMs) or competing solely on algorithmic development—they risk incurring enormous costs while potentially undermining the areas in which they possess genuine comparative advantages.

The distinctive value of the San Francisco AI Declaration lies in its effort to connect South Korea’s world-class manufacturing capabilities and advanced semiconductor production base with its broader AI strategy. The AI revolution extends well beyond software development. Its success will increasingly depend on access to large-scale computing capacity, the integration of data centers and energy infrastructure, and the ability to deploy AI rapidly across the physical economy.

The most pragmatic and effective economic strategy is therefore to position South Korea as a global AI collaboration platform and hub capable of developing and supplying “Physical AI” technologies and the hardware infrastructure required to support next-generation AI. This can be achieved by leveraging Korea’s world-class memory semiconductor capabilities, high-speed digital infrastructure, and extensive advanced manufacturing base.

South Korea’s institutional agility and highly developed digital environment also provide an attractive testbed for global companies seeking to validate AI technologies in real-world commercial and public-sector settings. A demand-driven strategy that accelerates AI adoption across society—including manufacturing, logistics, public administration, education, healthcare, and social services—could substantially increase the dynamism and scale of Korea’s AI ecosystem.

2. Preventing the Concentration of AI-Driven Growth and Building a Sustainable AI-Based Society

The productivity gains and economic benefits generated by AI also carry the risk of creating new forms of economic concentration, particularly if the gains from technological development accrue disproportionately to a small number of dominant platform companies or other market incumbents. Excessive economic concentration can weaken institutional checks and balances, exacerbate social inequality, and create conditions that undermine political pluralism and democratic resilience. If the benefits of AI are not broadly distributed across society, the long-term social and economic value generated by technological progress will inevitably be diminished.

Accordingly, the concept of an “AI-Based Society” emphasized in the declaration can serve as an important institutional framework for mitigating the adverse effects of economic concentration and ensuring that the benefits of AI-driven growth are broadly shared. An “AI-Based Society” should function as a universal framework that ensures that differences in access to AI technologies—and in the ability to use and benefit from them—do not become new sources of discrimination or inequality.

This requires robust guarantees of basic rights and opportunities, including access to education and healthcare, while ensuring that no segment of society—including small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, and vulnerable populations—is left behind. Such an approach is essential not only for preventing excessive economic concentration but also for preserving political pluralism, social cohesion, and democratic resilience.

This framework is also consistent with the broader goal of international cooperation to develop responsible, trustworthy, and human-centered AI. The international community must guard against the excessive concentration of AI capabilities in the hands of a small number of countries or large corporations, which could create significant asymmetries of power. It must also address the risks associated with the use of automated systems in high-stakes decision-making, including military operations. Establishing international norms grounded in the principle of the common good will therefore be essential to ensuring that AI remains subject to appropriate human oversight and accountability.

3. U.S.-Korea Strategic Partnership for Revitalizing Manufacturing and Integrating Technology Ecosystems

The United States needs reliable technology and manufacturing partners as it seeks to revitalize its advanced manufacturing base and realign global supply chains to enhance resilience and strategic security. By combining U.S. strengths in basic science, research and development (R&D), and software with South Korea’s manufacturing and production capabilities, the two countries can build more resilient supply chains capable of withstanding geopolitical and economic shocks.

In the semiconductor sector, technological security should be strengthened by establishing mutually reinforcing production and supply chains for high-performance memory and AI semiconductors, both of which are essential to AI data centers and advanced computing infrastructure. In advanced manufacturing sectors such as shipbuilding and steel, cooperation with South Korea—given its highly developed industrial infrastructure, engineering expertise, and advanced manufacturing capabilities—can contribute to the revitalization of U.S. manufacturing capacity while strengthening broader economic and national security.

At the same time, meeting the enormous energy requirements of AI will require parallel cooperation in next-generation nuclear power, clean energy, and critical-mineral supply chains, with a particular emphasis on diversification and resilience.

However, there are clear limitations to an approach that measures U.S.-Korea industrial cooperation primarily in terms of headline investment figures or the number of production facilities established in the United States. Genuine supply-chain resilience and industrial competitiveness require a comprehensive operational framework that extends beyond investment to include the exchange of specialized personnel, technological interoperability, data and certification systems, and stronger linkages between the defense and commercial industrial bases.

At the same time, both governments should work to minimize the policy uncertainty and compliance costs that companies face during the restructuring of global supply chains. As trade and investment rules become increasingly complex—including local-content requirements, rules of origin, subsidy eligibility criteria, and restrictions on foreign investment—close U.S.-Korea policy coordination will be essential to reducing business risks. The two governments should also promote greater transparency and nondiscriminatory treatment of cross-border data flows.

4. Expanding the U.S.-Korea Alliance into a Comprehensive Industrial and Digital Partnership

The ROK-U.S. alliance has historically functioned primarily as a military and defense partnership designed to preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. In an era defined increasingly by technological competition, however, the alliance must expand beyond its traditional role and evolve into a broader framework for cooperation in AI, digital infrastructure, and strategic industrial technologies.

Consistent with the vision outlined in the San Francisco AI Declaration, South Korea should not remain merely a consumer of advanced technologies or a contract manufacturing base. Rather, it should position itself as an indispensable provider of critical infrastructure for the global AI ecosystem and as a global testbed for demonstrating and validating the real-world value of emerging technologies.

The United States, for its part, should recognize South Korea’s manufacturing capabilities and broader technology ecosystem as those of a trusted, strategic, and increasingly indispensable partner. This will require reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers and developing a digital cooperation framework that facilitates the movement of talent, data, technology, and investment between the two countries.

If South Korea and the United States establish close strategic cooperation across the full spectrum of digital and strategic industries—including AI, semiconductors, shipbuilding, and energy—while maintaining the alliance’s traditional security foundation, the two countries can better withstand global supply-chain disruptions while advancing the shared objectives of economic prosperity and technological security.

Strengthening a U.S.-Korea digital and industrial alliance by combining the complementary capabilities of both countries is not simply an economic opportunity. It is a strategic imperative in an era of global value-chain restructuring and intensifying technological competition.