Resources, Energy, and AI Cooperation

An inter-state cooperation framework that bundles critical minerals, energy supply chains, and the AI industrial base into a single strategic package

Resources, Energy, and AI Cooperation

Overview

Resources, energy, and AI cooperation is a new economic and diplomatic agenda in which critical minerals, energy supply chains, and the industrial foundations of artificial intelligence (AI) are bundled into a single strategic package and pursued between countries. As AI data centers and semiconductor production demand enormous quantities of electricity and rare metals, securing resources, energy infrastructure, and AI technology are no longer separate issues. Since the mid-2020s, major countries have been building composite cooperation frameworks that simultaneously address supply chain alliances, joint energy investment, and AI safety and standards cooperation.

Key Elements

Background of the Convergence of the Three Agendas

Demand for electricity for AI training and inference and for data center cooling is surging, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that data center electricity consumption could more than double by 2030. At the same time, lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earths are essential to the manufacture of semiconductors, batteries, and power equipment, and because refining and processing capacity is concentrated in specific countries, supply chain risks have become structural. As a result, resources, energy, and AI now form a relationship of mutual preconditions and have been integrated onto a single negotiating table.

Resources Cooperation

Joint exploration and refining investment with resource-rich countries, long-term purchase contracts, joint stockpiling, and cooperation on urban mining (material recycling) technology are under way, including the U.S.-led Minerals Security Partnership (MSP). Korea is responding by signing critical mineral MOUs with Australia, Indonesia, African countries, and Latin American countries and by combining its smelting and materials processing capabilities.

Energy Cooperation

Nuclear power (including small modular reactors, SMRs), long-term LNG contracts, renewable energy and transmission grid expansion, clean hydrogen, and power grid interconnection are key. In particular, as Big Tech companies directly sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) and invest in SMRs and geothermal power, the private sector has emerged as a player in energy cooperation.

AI Cooperation

This includes the semiconductor supply chain (the U.S. CHIPS Act and the division of labor in equipment and materials among Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the Netherlands), AI safety and governance (AI summits and frontier AI safety commitments), compute and data sharing, and support for AI infrastructure in developing countries. Recently, so-called "AI compute diplomacy," in which compute resources are used as a diplomatic instrument, has also emerged.

Cooperation Mechanisms

Summits and ministerial dialogues, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), multilateral organizations (IPEF, G7, G20), export controls and investment screening, and supply chain due diligence regulations operate in combination. Cooperation takes the form of a package that goes beyond simple purchasing to include joint investment, technology transfer, and workforce development.

Korea's Position and Risks

Korea has manufacturing strengths in semiconductors, batteries, nuclear power, refining, and shipbuilding, but relies on imports for most of its resources. For this reason, strategies that exchange resources, energy, and AI capabilities — such as Korea-U.S., Korea-UAE, and Korea-Africa cooperation — have become important. On the other hand, cost increases from supply chain bloc formation, resource nationalism in resource-rich countries, the debate over a return to fossil fuels driven by AI electricity demand, and the widening technology gap and marginalization of developing countries are tasks that must be addressed.

Latest Trends

Entering 2024–2025, as data center power shortages became reality, grid connection waiting times lengthened in the United States, Ireland, Korea, and elsewhere, and cases of Big Tech directly investing in SMRs and geothermal power increased. The 2025 Paris AI Action Summit emphasized energy and infrastructure investment and the spread of inclusive AI beyond the safety agenda, and France, the UAE, and others announced large-scale AI data center investment plans. As China tightened export controls on rare earths and graphite, investment in alternative supply chains and discussions on joint stockpiling accelerated, and supply chain crisis response networks at the G7 and IPEF level are being refined. Korea led the safety and innovation agenda on the occasion of the 2024 AI Seoul Summit, and in 2025, with the construction of a national AI computing center, discussions on a basic AI law, and a cooperation package with the United States linking nuclear power, shipbuilding, and semiconductors, a strategy linking resources, energy, and AI has begun in earnest.