South Korea has announced plans to invest 4 trillion won (approximately $2.86 billion) to establish a national artificial intelligence (AI) computing center. This initiative aims to bolster the country's competitiveness in the rapidly advancing AI technology sector. The decision was made during a high-level economic meeting focused on enhancing the global competitiveness of local industries.
The new AI computing center will play a crucial role in providing advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) essential for AI development, thereby supporting local businesses and researchers. By the end of 2023, South Korea is expected to have around 2,000 NVIDIA-developed H100 GPUs, significantly fewer than the approximately 150,000 GPUs owned by global tech giants like Meta Platforms and Microsoft.
To quickly establish the nation's AI infrastructure, the South Korean government plans to begin purchasing GPUs even before the AI computing center becomes operational. Additionally, the government intends to create a dedicated loan program for AI companies as part of a 14 trillion won policy financing initiative, which provides low-interest loans to semiconductor manufacturing companies.
