[2024 National Audit] "To Produce AI Unicorns, Securing 'Data Centers'... Government Must Play a Role"

Assemblyman Lee Jeongheon Points Out Data Center Shortage
"Urgent Need to Resolve AI Infrastructure Issues"
"Vouchers Should Be Provided to Startups and Universities"

There is a claim at the national audit that domestic artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are severely lacking, and the government's role is crucial to becoming a leading AI supplier country.

Lee Jeongheon, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 25th, Lee Jeong-heon, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out at the audit targeting the Ministry of Science and ICT, "At the current level, it is impossible to meet the rapidly increasing demand for AI computing power," adding, "If AI data centers are not expanded in the mid to long term, the problem of AI infrastructure shortage cannot be resolved."

According to data received by Lee from the Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea has a total of 188 data centers, consisting of 85 private data centers and 103 data centers from administrative and public institutions. However, this includes low-performance and low-capacity data centers for special purposes such as CCTV control centers, making it difficult to classify them as typical large-scale data centers.

As of March, the number of data centers in major countries worldwide was 5,381 in the United States, 521 in Germany, and 514 in the United Kingdom, with South Korea failing to rank within the top 10 countries by the number of data centers, revealing a severe shortage of AI infrastructure.

Lee pointed out the reality that many companies and research institutions, including startups, are experiencing high barriers to securing GPUs due to the high prices and shortages of graphics processing units (GPUs) worldwide.

He cited the case of a Japanese AI startup that solved the GPU procurement problem through Japan's "Enhanced Support Program for Generative AI Development," which began in February, becoming a unicorn (a privately held startup valued at over 1 trillion won) in the AI field within one year of its founding.

On the other hand, the Korean government has been conducting the "AI High-Performance Computing Support" project to assist small and venture companies and university laboratories that require computing resources, but the budget for this project was reduced from 15 billion won last year to 13.2 billion won this year. It was revealed that the computing resource specifications supported by this project fall short of the level required for large-scale AI training.

Lee said, "For AI unicorns to emerge in Korea, it is necessary to create an environment where anyone can easily and conveniently access AI, including AI data centers," emphasizing, "It must be recognized that without active government intervention, it is difficult to resolve the infrastructure shortage."

In response to Lee's remark that "bold investment in data centers is necessary to build AI infrastructure well and make Korea an AI self-reliant country," Minister Yoo Sang-im of the Ministry of Science and ICT replied, "I agree."

Lee urged, "The government needs to play a pioneering role by providing vouchers to startups and universities using AI data centers to reduce infrastructure cost burdens and expand accessibility."