Lee Maps Out AI Supply Chain from Silicon Valley to Latin America
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung returned from an 11-day trip to broaden his country's AI supply chain map, securing commitments on rare earths, copper, lithium, and crude oil. The tour connected Silicon Valley's computing power with Latin America's resource wealth.
The President visited San Francisco, where he sought partnerships with Nvidia, Broadcom, OpenAI, and Anthropic to strengthen Korea's position in AI chips, models, and data centers. He then traveled to Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, pursuing the minerals and energy needed to keep those AI factories running.
Lee signed a critical minerals partnership with Chile, agreeing to revive the Korea-Chile Free Trade Commission, dormant since 2015. The International Energy Agency projects global copper supply will fall roughly one-quarter short of demand by 2035 due to declining ore grades and lengthy mine development.
Brazil addressed another vulnerability by adopting a joint statement on critical minerals with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The country possesses an estimated 21 million tons of rare earth elements, the world's second-largest reserves. Rare earth elements are essential for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and advanced defense systems.
Argentina completed the resource map by signing a lithium memorandum covering exploration, extraction, and processing while opening a new supply route for crude oil. South Korea imported a trial cargo of about 880,000 barrels of Argentine crude this year and plans to begin regular purchases from 2026 as it seeks to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern supplies.