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Google DeepMind CEO meets top Korean industry leaders to deepen AI partnerships

Published: 28 Apr. 2026, 19:17

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis speaks during an MOU signing ceremony with the Ministry of Science and ICT at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on April 27. [YONHAP]

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis held a series of back-to-back meetings with Korea's top business leaders on Tuesday amid the company's push to deepen partnerships in one of Asia's fastest-growing AI markets.

Hassabis began the day with a morning meeting with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, followed by a lunchtime meeting with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, according to industry sources. He then headed to the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Seocho District, southern Seoul to meet the company’s executive chairman, Lee Jae-yong, and CEO Roh Tae-moon.

He later met Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, along with executives from key affiliates including SK hynix and SK Telecom.

The meetings are understood to have focused on expanding cooperation in AI as global tech companies and Korean conglomerates race to secure an edge in next-generation computing.

Hassabis, who founded DeepMind and is often referred to as the “father of AlphaGo,” led the development of the Go-playing AI that defeated champion Lee Sedol in 2016. In 2024, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on AlphaFold, an AI system that predicts protein structures.

DeepMind has since been pushing to expand the ecosystem of its generative AI models, including Gemini. Samsung, a long-time partner of Google through its Android platform, has integrated Gemini into its smartphones starting with the Galaxy S24 series in 2024. LG Electronics has also incorporated the model into its CLOi service robots, which have shown marked improvements in handling user queries since the upgrade.

Collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group is also gaining traction. Hyundai’s robotics unit, Boston Dynamics, has been working with DeepMind to advance its humanoid robot Atlas. Discussions with Hyundai are also expected to cover software-defined vehicles and the application of AI to autonomous driving algorithms.

Hassabis’s talks with semiconductor firms come as demand for advanced memory chips remains tight. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are both key suppliers of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, to Google. The company is reportedly considering adopting next-generation HBM4E chips for its eighth-generation tensor processing units, designed for AI training and inference.

Hassabis’s visit follows a memorandum of understanding that he signed earlier with Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT. Speaking at the signing ceremony, he said he planned to meet with the tycoons of Korean industry during his trip.

“Korea has emerged as an AI hub, and we look forward to close collaboration,” he said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM KYUNG-MI [[email protected]]