Meta founder strengthens ties with Korean tech companies

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, poses with LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, left, and LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon Bong-seok, during a visit to LG Twin Tower in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Electronics US tech giant eyes collaborations with Samsung, LG in AI chip, XR businesses By Baek Byung-yeul Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, the U.S. tech giant behind leading social network services like Facebook and Instagram, held meetings with officials from Korean tech companies, Wednesday, to expand the extended reality (XR) ecosystem and foster cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI). The Meta founder, who arrived in Korea the previous night, marking his first trip here since 2013, visited LG Electronics’ office and met with the company's CEO, Cho Joo-wan. The discussions centered around technological cooperation related to extended reality (XR). On the same day, the Meta chief also held private meetings with officials from XR-related startups in Korea. Later in the evening, he met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon, Samsung Group's VIP guest house located in Seoul. Zuckerberg's meeting with Korean tech company representatives is seen as a move to try to build a strong software and hardware manufacturing ecosystem like Meta's rival Apple. This move is interpreted as an effort to position Meta at the forefront of the global digital market by establishing partnerships in AI and XR, which are crucial areas of future technology. By collaborating with influential Korean manufacturing giants such as Samsung and LG, as well as startups with significant market potential, Meta aims to strengthen its foothold in these cutting-edge sectors. LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan speaks with reporters after meeting with Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the LG Twin Tower in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap LG said the meeting with the Meta founder resulted in in-depth discussions ranging from business strategy to specific issues related to the development of next-generation XR devices. "Cho tried on Meta's Meta Quest 3 mixed reality (MR) headset and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and showed keen interest in various advanced technology demonstrations presented by Meta," an LG official said. "In particular, Cho showed great interest in Meta's large language model (LLM) AI and explored potential synergies from the perspective of on-device AI capabilities." After the meeting with Zuckerberg, the LG Electronics CEO told reporters that the two companies would launch an XR device together next year. "We will be able to commercialize the XR device made with Meta next year. We've conceptualized the product and are in the process of developing it," the CEO told reporters. "We discussed whether it is right to quickly bring this new product to market, or to prioritize ensuring its thorough development and quality." Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg enters the LG Twin Tower in Seoul to meet with LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, Wednesday. Yonhap The LG CEO also revealed that discussions were held with Meta regarding generative AI cooperation. He added that conversations took place about the potential application of Meta's large language model, Llama, to LG Electronics' devices, which have collectively sold more than 500 million units in the global market. “I think the scope for collaboration between the two companies is huge when thinking about applying Meta’s language model to LG’s devices,” the CEO said. During the dinner with the Samsung chief, the two apparently held in discussions regarding potential cooperation in AI semiconductor and XR businesses. The Meta CEO's wife, Priscilla Chan, also attended the dinner. Industry watchers believe their discussions likely revolved around semiconductor cooperation, particularly concerning the production of AI chips necessary for operating Meta's next-generation LLM, Llama 3. Samsung, being the world's second-largest foundry company, specializes in manufacturing chips ordered by chip design companies. Meta recently entered the AI technology competition by announcing plans to develop its own artificial general intelligence (AGI), an AI capable of surpassing human intelligence in nearly every aspect. As part of this initiative, Meta unveiled plans to procure by the year's end a total of 350,000 Nvidia H100 processors, which are graphic processing unit chips. Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, is seen inside a car as he leaves Seungjiwon, Samsung’s VIP guest house in Seoul, after a dinner meeting with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday night. Yonhap Samsung also recently launched the AGI Computing Lab in Silicon Valley, focusing on developing semiconductors specifically tailored for AGI applications. Given the history of collaboration between Meta and Samsung, including Zuckerberg's attendance at Samsung's Galaxy S7 smartphone launch at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in 2016 and the emphasis on cooperation in the virtual reality (VR) business, it is reasonable to expect that discussions about XR devices also took place during the dinner. On Thursday, the Meta founder will meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol to discuss cooperation in AI and other industries. Yoon is anticipated to communicate the government's intention to expand investments in advanced technology fields, particularly AI semiconductors, during the meeting. Additionally, he is expected to request collaboration with domestic companies in these sectors.