Bill Gates May Visit South Korea Next Month, Advanced Nuclear Energy and AI Cooperation Expected to Be on Agenda

Industry insiders revealed on July 29 that Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of the Gates Foundation, plans to visit South Korea as early as next month and has requested a meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's office. Currently, both sides are coordinating the meeting time and agenda, with the specific visit date and meeting arrangements yet to be confirmed.

If the visit proceeds, it will be Gates' second engagement with South Korea on advanced industrial cooperation following his trip last year. In August last year, Gates visited South Korea, focusing on discussing cooperation plans in areas such as artificial intelligence and next-generation small modular reactors (SMRs).

During the visit, Gates also met with South Korean business leaders including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun, and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, exchanging views on potential cooperation in next-generation nuclear power, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

Gates currently serves as founder and chairman of the board of TerraPower, a next-generation nuclear energy company. TerraPower is advancing the development of the "Natrium" next-generation reactor technology, which features a sodium-cooled reactor core combined with a molten salt energy storage system, enabling power regulation within a certain range while enhancing system safety, thus attracting attention from the nuclear energy industry.