South Korea plans to invest 10 trillion won (US$6.7 billion) in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector this year via the National Growth Fund as part of its goal to foster a Korean equivalent of U.S. tech giant Nvidia Corp., the science ministry said Tuesday.
S. Korea eyes 10 tln-won investment in AI sector via state fund
SEOUL, Mar 17 (YONHAP/APP): South Korea plans to invest 10 trillion won (US$6.7 billion) in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector this year via the National Growth Fund as part of its goal to foster a Korean equivalent of U.S. tech giant Nvidia Corp., the science ministry said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) unveiled the plan as they held a conference in Seoul with AI-related companies to discuss ways to utilize the state fund to propel growth in the AI industry.
In 2025, the government introduced the National Growth Fund, which will invest at least 150 trillion won from public and private sources over five years, with the goal of securing new growth engines for Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The government earlier announced the first batch of seven projects under the plan, including one aimed at fostering a Korean equivalent of Nvidia.
“Currently, the global AI market is led by GPUs, but some cite limitations due to massive energy consumption and astronomical costs,” Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said during the event.
“Big tech AI companies are seeking to overcome such limitations of GPUs through next-generation NPU technologies specialized in inference, engaging in fierce competition,” Bae added, referring to graphics processing units and neural processing units.
Bae said South Korea plans to focus its efforts on fostering the domestic NPU industry to help the nation become a leading player in the global market.
FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon echoed the view, noting the AI industry calls for large-scale initial investment along with continued hardware upgrades.
“Through the National Growth Fund, the government will invest 50 trillion won in the AI and semiconductor sectors over a five-year period, including 10 trillion won this year,” Lee said.
The science ministry said it plans to continue working closely with the private sector and the FSC to find new project opportunities, along with efforts to foster a Korean equivalent of Nvidia.
