South Korea Bets $390 Million on Homegrown Large Language Models

[cryptohog]

South Korea has launched its most ambitious sovereign AI program to date, pledging ₩530 billion (about $390 million) to five domestic companies developing large-scale foundational models tailored to Korean language and culture.

The Ministry of Science and ICT selected LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Naver Cloud, NC AI and startup Upstage for the first round of funding. Every six months the government will review progress, cut underperformers and continue backing the leaders until just two remain to spearhead the national AI push.

Officials say the initiative is aimed at reducing reliance on foreign AI technologies, strengthening data security and enhancing the country’s competitiveness against global players such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Each company brings a different advantage to the race, though NC AI declined to comment on its strategy.

[kelson10]

Korea putting $390M into homegrown AI shows how serious they are about building local models.

[jacson4]

The cut-down approach to back only the best two teams could really sharpen competitiveness.