The Financial Services Commission building in Seoul. Photo by Asia Today \n <\/p>\n
May 3 (Asia Today) — South Korea is accelerating large-scale investment to strengthen its artificial intelligence competitiveness through the National Growth Fund, expanding support beyond AI computing infrastructure to energy and advanced materials.<\/p>\n
The Financial Services Commission said Sunday that its National Growth Fund management committee approved five projects Wednesday, including investment in companies developing AI foundation models and construction of a national AI computing center. Total approvals through April reached 8.4 trillion won, or about $5.7 billion.\n<\/p>\n
A key part of the investment is AI infrastructure. The government approved equity investment in a national AI computing center equipped with 15,000 graphics processing units. The project will be carried out through a public-private special purpose company and is expected to provide high-performance computing resources to industry and research institutions.<\/p>\n
The government also plans to invest about 560 billion won, or $380 million, in South Korean AI company Upstage. Of that amount, 100 billion won, or $67.9 million, will come from the advanced strategic industry fund to support development of enterprise large language models and AI foundation models.<\/p>\n
The investment is also expanding into energy and supply chains as electricity demand from data centers is expected to rise sharply with the spread of AI.\n<\/p>\n
The commission said it will provide 250 billion won, or $170 million, in low-interest loans for a spherical graphite production plant, a key material for rechargeable batteries. It also will fund a company producing high-purity hydrogen fluoride, which is essential for semiconductor manufacturing.<\/p>\n
The fund also will support the biotechnology sector by providing 85 billion won, or $57.7 million, in low-interest loans to a mid-sized company expanding biosimilar production facilities.<\/p>\n
“We will speed up investment in advanced industries and infrastructure through the National Growth Fund and raise competitiveness across the AI ecosystem,” a Financial Services Commission official said.<\/p>\n
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/p>\n
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