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Latest / Frontier models and safety

PolicyFrontierGovernmentSouth KoreaReported

Korea’s science ministry plans 4.7 trillion won for a sovereign frontier model

See how this story connects

Source: The Korea Herald (Yonhap)

The Ministry of Science and ICT disclosed a plan to invest 4.7 trillion won (about US$3.49 billion) to develop a domestic AI model on par with global frontier models, through an independent fund, as part of a 9.4 trillion won AI budget in its 2027 budget request. An official said the project’s details had not been decided. Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon has argued that a sovereign frontier model would keep Korea from becoming subordinate to other nations amid US-China competition.

Why it matters

Korea is proposing state money at the scale of a frontier training run, on top of the sovereign AI model competition already under way.

When
8 Sep 2026
ID
WTA-N-2026-0327
Who
Ministry of Science and ICT; Bae Kyung-hoon

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from The Korea Herald (Yonhap). We could not open the primary document, so it is marked Reported. Checked against the source on 20 Oct 2026.

Read the original at The Korea Herald (Yonhap)

Source copy: download the page as saved on 21 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Earlier in this Storyline: What led hereKorea’s sovereign AI project cuts Motif and advances LG, SK Telecom and Upstage

Data to measure this

Compare the years before 2026 with the years since in these series. National sources for South Korea come first.

  • OECD.AI: venture capital investments in AI start-upsOECD.AI (data from Preqin)Venture capital invested in AI start-ups by country and industry, with series for generative AI and AI compute start-ups.live · query tool
  • AI Industry SurveySoftware Policy & Research Institute for the Ministry of Science and ICTKorean AI companies’ sales, exports, workforce, investment and obstacles.Years: 2023-2024 · annual · report only · PDF
  • Crunchbase company and funding dataCrunchbase · paidPrivate company profiles, funding rounds and acquisitions.live · api · API

All data for South Korea

Cite this story

WTA-N-2026-0327: “Korea’s science ministry plans 4.7 trillion won for a sovereign frontier model.” wheresthe.ai, 8 Sep 2026. https://wheresthe.ai/d/kr-msit-4-7-trillion-won-sovereign-frontier-model-2026-09/ (source: The Korea Herald (Yonhap)).

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