The frontier opened in Seoul first. And on this street.
Hours in the air to reach the same room
Approximate direct flight times · the room is the same either way
OpenAI's largest paid market outside the US
Korea is OpenAI's largest paid market outside the United States, with users up tenfold in a year. Koreans now spend more on generative AI than on Netflix — a market that bets on productivity over entertainment.
OpenAI; Korea Economic Daily (2026)
The memory inside the world's AI chips is Korean
SK hynix and Samsung lead global HBM supply, and NVIDIA counts them as essential to the AI buildout. The boom runs on Korean silicon.
OpenAI 2025, Anthropic 2026, Google DeepMind's first campus outside the UK
OpenAI opened its Seoul office in 2025. Anthropic followed in 2026. Google DeepMind chose Seoul for its first AI campus outside the UK. The frontier is choosing Seoul ahead of anywhere else in Asia.
Anthropic (2026); OpenAI (2025); Korea.net, Google DeepMind (2026)
K-culture carries a launch worldwide at the speed of culture
K-pop, K-drama and Korean creators carry what launches here to the world. And Korea's demanding market makes Seoul the beachhead for scaling across Asia.
Seoul's SoHo · three minutes from Seongsu Station
A former factory district, now the first stop for international brands. SFACTORY is its largest event venue, and Hall D has staged Chanel Métiers d'Art, Seoul Fashion Week, an NCT DREAM showcase and the Bottega Veneta launch.
The venue
October 20–21, 2026 · SFACTORY Seongsu
Tickets and the first speaker names are announced together.
BS26 · Boarding not open
Attendance is limited and every application is read. Applications open together with the first speaker names — we announce both at once, so nobody has to decide on an empty programme.
Nothing to pay and nothing to fill in yet.
BS26 · Cabin baggage
One page you can forward to your manager: what the two days cover, who is in the room, and what one trip to San Francisco costs against one ticket. It lands here before applications open.
Written for a weekday absence, so you do not have to argue for it yourself.