South Korea Pledges 4.7 Trillion Won to Build Frontier AI Models
South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT announced a 4.7 trillion won ($3.3 billion) public-private initiative starting in March 2027 to develop world-leading frontier AI models. Following parliamentary budget review in December, the government will select the lead developers through competitive bidding expected to wrap up by February 2027. This initiative highlights the growing global trend of sovereign AI, where nations invest heavily in domestic foundation models to ensure technological independence. It aims to secure South Korea a competitive position in the global AI landscape alongside tech giants from the US and China. The project combines government equity investments with private capital, pooling computing chips, data, and talent from startups, major corporations, universities, and research institutes. This new program runs independently from existing domestic base model initiatives, which are set to select two final development teams in February 2027.
## BACKGROUND
Sovereign AI refers to a country's capability to build, control, and deploy its own artificial intelligence technology and infrastructure to preserve digital autonomy and data security. Meanwhile, frontier AI models represent state-of-the-art, highly capable foundation models that push the boundaries of modern machine intelligence.