Google DeepMind to Open First Global AI Campus in Seoul
April 27, 2026 - 11:14 am
Demis Hassabis met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday and signed an MOU with the Ministry of Science and ICT. The campus will be operational this year. Hassabis accepted a request to send at least 10 Google engineers from US headquarters. He presented Lee with a Go board signed by himself and Lee Se-dol.
Announcement Details:
Google DeepMind will establish its first AI campus in Seoul, South Korea—a global first for the company. This announcement followed Demis Hassabis's meeting with President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy, confirmed the agreement.
The Science Ministry and Google signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the campus at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul later that day, with Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon and Hassabis in attendance. The campus is expected to open within 2026.
The MOU covers:
- Joint AI research in science and technology
- AI skills development
- Responsible use of AI
Hassabis expressed his willingness to dispatch Google researchers to Korea. As quoted by Kim, Hassabis said: "The CEO instantly accepted our request to send at least 10."
Campus Objectives and Significance:
The campus aims to serve as a hub connecting Google engineers with South Korean startups, researchers, and industrial companies. The Ministry of Science and ICT considers it a key element of Korea’s "K-Moonshot" project, which leverages AI and science capabilities to tackle major national challenges. South Korea has set its sights on becoming one of the world’s top three AI powerhouses alongside the United States and China.
The choice of venue and timing carries symbolic value. The 2016 match between Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo and Korean Go grandmaster Lee Se-dol took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, the same location where the MOU was signed.
AlphaGo's 4–1 victory over Lee Se-dol in March 2016 is credited with sparking modern investment in AI by demonstrating deep learning’s ability to surpass human expert performance in a highly complex domain. Hassabis mentioned AlphaGo during the meeting, highlighting its contribution to advancements in AI, including the AlphaFold system for protein folding.
AlphaFold subsequently solved one of biology’s most pressing problems: predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins from their amino acid sequence. This achievement led to Hassabis being jointly awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As a gesture of goodwill, Hassabis presented President Lee with a Go board signed by himself and Lee Se-dol, marking the 10th anniversary of the historic match.
Hassabis also expressed interest in collaborating with major Korean companies such as Samsung, SK Hynix, Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics, and LG on new joint projects. These companies represent the diverse range of Korea's technology industrial base: semiconductors and memory (Samsung and SK Hynix), physical AI and robotics (Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics), and consumer and enterprise electronics (LG).