South Korea has declared a national effort to become one of the top three global powerhouses in artificial intelligence (AI). On February 20, the government held the third meeting of the National AI Commission and announced specific plans to innovate the AI ecosystem.
During the meeting, strategies to enhance the overall competitiveness of the AI industry were discussed. These included developing world-class AI models, cultivating key AI talent, expanding computing infrastructure, increasing open access to AI data, and supporting startup growth.
Global competition for AI dominance is intensifying. Recently, major developed countries such as the United States, the European Union, and France have decided to invest trillions of won in the AI sector, entering a race to secure global AI leadership. Particularly, the Chinese AI startup ‘DeepSeek’ is disrupting the existing big tech-centered AI competition landscape by advancing reinforcement learning and innovative algorithms, thereby accelerating the AI technology race.
In response to this trend, the Korean government has devised comprehensive support measures to enhance the country’s AI competitiveness. The meeting, attended by acting authority Choi along with cabinet ministers, AI industry experts, and representatives from local AI companies such as Naver, More, and Liner, reviewed global trends and discussed specific execution plans to elevate Korea to one of the top three AI powerhouses.
The government intends to focus on five key strategic directions to innovate the AI ecosystem and secure global competitiveness: developing enormous AI models, nurturing AI talent, significantly expanding AI computing infrastructure, broadening AI data usage, and supporting startups.
1. Development of world-class AI models
The government aims to develop top-level large language models (LLM) through the ‘World Best LLM Project.’ An elite ‘AI National Team’ will be selected to receive focused support for research funding, data, GPUs, and other essential resources. Additionally, efforts will be made to secure essential, source technologies for a 1 trillion won general-purpose artificial intelligence (AGI).
2. AI talent cultivation and attracting outstanding international talent
To nurture world-class talent in the AI sector, the government plans to host a ‘Global AI Challenge’ and expand the ‘Global AI Frontier Lab’, established last year in the U.S., to Europe. Support programs for domestic emerging AI researchers will be set up, and a new university focusing on industry-academia cooperation for AI fusion talent desired by companies will be established.
3. Significant expansion of AI computing infrastructure
Efforts to expand the computing infrastructure for domestic AI research and development are also underway. By the first half of 2026, the government plans to secure 18,000 high-performance GPUs. The aim is to promptly establish a national AI computing center and the sixth supercomputer. To encourage investment in private data centers, tax incentives, and improvements to electricity and location-related systems are also being pursued.
4. Expansion of AI data openness
The opening of public and private AI data will be expanded. The utilization scope of unstructured raw data will be extended from the existing autonomous driving field to sectors such as healthcare and defense, with provisions to ensure stable use of the necessary data for AI research through special measures for personal data usage.
5. Support for AI startup growth and industrialization
The government is committed to actively nurturing AI startups to produce five AI unicorn companies by 2027 and increasing the AI utilization rate among small and medium enterprises to 50%. By designating 100 AI specialist firms, support for personnel, funding, and market pathways will be enhanced. Strategic funding of 5.7 trillion won in 2025 will be focused on fields such as AI and semiconductors for innovative growth.
The policies announced at this meeting of the National AI Commission demonstrate a strong commitment to securing leadership in the global AI competition. Comprehensive support is anticipated across all fronts, from AI model development, infrastructure building, talent cultivation, data openness, to industry expansion.
Choe Sung-mok, acting authority and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stressed, “At this crucial juncture, the public and private sectors must work together to swiftly enhance the nation’s AI capabilities to ascend as one of the top three AI powerhouses.” He also affirmed a commitment to focused support for the development of world-class AI models.
The future competitiveness of a nation’s industries hinges on AI technology. It remains to be seen whether Korea can position itself as a leading nation in AI on the world stage through this strategy.