[News Terms] Intensified AI Sovereignty Competition: 'Sovereign AI'

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and Lee Hae-jin, Founder of Naver and Global Investment Officer (GIO) of Naver, discussed Sovereign AI, which refers to AI technology independently built by a country or company using its own infrastructure and data. As the English word Sovereign means 'autonomous' or 'independent,' it is also referred to as 'AI sovereignty.' Simply put, Sovereign AI is AI technology developed independently in accordance with each country's government regulations.

Lee Hae-jin, Naver's Global Investment Officer (GIO, left), met with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (center), at Nvidia's headquarters in the United States on the 25th (local time) to discuss the issue of country-specific artificial intelligence (AI) called 'Sovereign AI'.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Sovereign AI can be utilized in various fields such as local language model development, national defense and financial security, and climate change response. Sovereign AI also plays an important role in preserving cultural diversity and uniqueness of each country. Most generative AI currently developed mainly in the United States is based on English-language data, which tends to internalize Western culture and values. Prolonged exposure to such AI services may distort the unique history or culture of a specific country and cause social conflicts. Sovereign AI, trained on data based on native languages, specific regional dialects, cultures, and practices, can minimize these side effects.

Countries including those in Europe, as well as Japan and Singapore, are developing their own language models and strengthening computing capabilities under government support, while focusing on securing AI semiconductors for these reasons.

According to foreign media, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in May the establishment of a public-private partnership to purchase graphics processing units (GPUs) necessary for AI training, aiming to increase GPU market share from the current 3% to 20% by 2035. Canada and Japan also plan to invest $1.5 billion and $740 million respectively to strengthen their AI computing capabilities. Singapore is introducing the latest NVIDIA AI semiconductors at its National Supercomputing Centre, and the state-owned telecommunications company Singapore Telecommunications is collaborating with NVIDIA to expand data centers in Southeast Asia. India has also announced a Sovereign AI initiative to promote private sector investment in workforce development, sustainable computing, and domestic computing capabilities.