South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) held K-Global@Silicon Valley 2026 in Silicon Valley in the United States from Sept. 10 to 12 to support domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startups’ entry into overseas markets, the ministry said on Sunday.

Marking its 15th year, K-Global@Silicon Valley is an overseas expansion programme that supports cooperation and networking between Korean AI startups and global big tech companies and venture capital firms.

This year, 31 Korean AI startups took part. Participating companies joined programmes including building global partnerships through collaboration with local big tech companies, one-on-one investment consultations with venture capital firms and networking with local companies and talent.

The ministry also held K-AI Tech Week@Silicon Valley during the event, attended by AI startups as well as venture capital firms from Korea and abroad and big tech officials. Ken Goldberg, chair of the Berkeley AI Research Lab, Dongsoo Kim (김동수), chief executive of LG Technology Ventures, and Yerin Kim (김예린), a principal researcher at Amazon Robotics, took part in keynote speeches and seminars.

It also jointly held Google AI Day with Google Cloud. Korean AI startups reviewed their overseas expansion strategies through management and technology seminars led by local AI experts and held one-on-one technical meetings with Google AI developers.

The ministry also discussed expanding cooperation with global big tech companies. With Google Cloud, it discussed follow-up cooperation measures to support AI infrastructure and human resources for Korean AI startups operating in Silicon Valley.

At Nvidia’s headquarters, it met key executives including Madison Hwang and asked for an uninterrupted supply of graphics processing units (GPUs) set to be introduced this year. The two sides discussed cooperation measures, including reviewing holding GTC (GPU Technology Conference) 2027 in South Korea, based on the growth potential of Korean AI startups.

The ministry also attended a signing ceremony for a business agreement between global AI benchmarking firm Artificial Analysis (AA) and NIPA. The two sides discussed the need for cooperation on performance evaluation in areas including physical AI and AI semiconductors. AA presented a certificate titled 'Korea Rank #3 Globally in AI' to Park Tae-wan (박태완), the ministry's director general for ICT Industry Policy, to commemorate South Korea achieving third place worldwide in AI through an independent AI foundation model project.

Choi Dong-won (최동원), director general for AI Infrastructure Policy at the ministry, said the certification from AA means South Korea’s AI capabilities built through an independent AI foundation model project are being recognised by the international community.

Park said K-Global@Silicon Valley has reached its 15th year. He said the ministry will continue to actively support Korean AI startups so they can use Silicon Valley as a bridgehead and expand their activities more broadly in global markets.