Korea Artificial Intelligence Cloud Industry Association (KACI) has appointed a new chairman and will rally its capabilities to help the industry grow.

The association said on April 21 it appointed Kim Bong-kyun (김봉균), CEO of KT Cloud, as chairman at its 22nd extraordinary general meeting on April 20. The meeting was held in writing to speed up the appointment.

Kim previously served as head of the Biz Business Division at KT's Enterprise division, head of the Enterprise Strategy Division, head of KT's Busan and South Gyeongnam regional headquarters, and CEO of KT Engineering.

The association will use Kim's inauguration to focus on sustainable growth in the AI and cloud industry. It will build close cooperation with the government to help the AI and cloud industry grow. It will strengthen its role as a public-private communication channel to reflect industry views in policymaking, improve unreasonable regulations and identify support policies. It will also continue to push policy proposals linked to the national AI strategy.

It will also pursue various industry-support programmes so member companies can grow steadily. It will step up support to expand new growth engines such as AI data centres and cloud infrastructure, including technology exchanges, identifying joint projects and strengthening cooperation networks among members. It will also work in parallel on building a convergence ecosystem and fostering specialised talent through industry-academia-research cooperation.

Kim said AI and cloud are key industries that determine national competitiveness. He said the association will faithfully serve as a bridge between the government and the industry and do its best on policy support and industry revitalisation so member companies can deliver tangible results in the market.

The association changed its name in December last year from the Korea Cloud Industry Association to the Korea Artificial Intelligence Cloud Industry Association. With AI emerging as a key growth engine across industries, it aims to further strengthen its role as an association that encompasses a cloud-centred ecosystem of infrastructure, data and services.