# South Korea plans $3.5B frontier AI program starting March 2027

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-10-06T10:00:37Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/south-korea-plans-3-5b-frontier-ai-program-starting-march-2027

## Summary

South Korea intends to split its national AI development strategy into two distinct tracks for 2027. The first track focuses on developing a frontier-class foundation model, backed by a proposed government investment of 4.7 trillion won ($3.49 billion). The second track will support the industrial deployment of Korean models across various sectors, allowing smaller or specialized models to reach the market without requiring frontier-scale computing resources.

Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Je-myung announced that the current competition among LG AI Research, SK Telecom, and Upstage will continue, with two finalists selected after the third-stage evaluation in mid-February. However, instead of automatically extending support to these teams, the government will launch a new, open competition for the frontier model project. This new contest will be open to other companies, including startups, to ensure fair access to public funding.

Ryu stated that the current support level of roughly 1,000 high-end GPUs per team is insufficient to compete with global frontier models. The government aims to develop a model competitive with leading Chinese open models, acknowledging that direct competition with major US AI companies is unrealistic. The 2027 budget proposal is subject to National Assembly approval, expected in December, with the new program potentially launching as early as March 2027.

## Key points

- South Korea proposes 4.7 trillion won ($3.49 billion) for a new frontier AI model project in 2027.
- A new open competition will replace automatic support for current finalists LG AI Research, SK Telecom, and Upstage.
- The government plans to allocate 29,000 purchased GPUs, with a distribution plan expected by year-end.

## Why it matters

This signals a major shift in South Korea's AI strategy, moving from limited support to a large-scale, open competition for frontier models. It aims to boost national competitiveness against Chinese open models and ensures broader industry participation beyond established tech giants.

## Sources

1. [South Korea plans to launch a ~$3.5B program to develop a frontier AI model starting as early as March 2027 and will open a competition to select participants](https://koreaherald.com/article/10893306) (koreaherald.com, 2026-10-06)

## Cite

Digest AI, "South Korea plans $3.5B frontier AI program starting March 2027", 6 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/south-korea-plans-3-5b-frontier-ai-program-starting-march-2027

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