South Korea plans a 4.7 trillion won frontier AI model programme alongside its homegrown foundation model project

South Korea plans to split its homegrown AI development programme into two tracks next year, as reported by The Korea Herald from a press briefing by Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Je-myung on 2 October. One track is a frontier model project backed by 4.7 trillion won in proposed government equity investment in the 2027 budget proposal, with private capital expected to supplement public funding; the proposal still needs National Assembly approval. The other track will support the use of Korean-developed models across industries. The government plans to open the new frontier competition, which will be open to other companies including startups, after parliament approves the 2027 budget, expected in December, with the programme potentially starting as early as March. The existing independent AI foundation model competition among teams led by LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage continues, with two finalists to be selected after the third-stage evaluation and results expected around mid-February. Ryu said the investment structure is undecided, with a consortium or a special-purpose company among the options, and that the current support of roughly 1,000 high-end GPUs per remaining team was not enough to compete with frontier models. The ministry is also preparing a plan, expected by year-end, to allocate about 29,000 GPUs the government has purchased or is bringing online.

What it means for business: the programme is a funding plan, not a regulation; Korean AI developers and startups may want to watch for details of the frontier competition and the National Assembly's vote on the 2027 budget in December.