Ruling Party and Government: "Expanding GPU Holdings Tenfold from 2,000 to 20,000 Units in the First Half of Next Year"

Groundbreaking Scholarship and Free Education Initiatives for Advanced Strategic Technology Majors
Active Promotion of Supplementary Budget Worth 2 Trillion Won for GPU and Infrastructure Expansion

On the 18th, the ruling party and the government agreed to increase the number of cutting-edge graphics processing units (GPUs) from the current 2,000 to 20,000 by the first half of next year to strengthen the national competitiveness of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

They also agreed to introduce a groundbreaking scholarship system for university students majoring in national advanced strategic technologies such as AI, semiconductors, secondary batteries, and bio, and to actively promote related measures to enable free education in the mid to long term. They plan to push for an additional supplementary budget to secure AI-related funding.

Kim Sang-hoon, the Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, said to reporters after the ruling party-government meeting held at the National Assembly in the afternoon, "We discussed plans to strengthen national AI capabilities by expanding AI computing infrastructure in response to the intensifying AI technology hegemony competition."

Earlier, Kwon Young-se, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, expressed concerns in his opening remarks at the meeting, stating, "We live in an era where the gap in technology determines national competitiveness, and those who win the technology hegemony monopolize the structure. Once left behind, it is very difficult to catch up, and national competitiveness declines, even threatening security." He emphasized the need to enhance national AI capabilities.

People from the ruling party and government, including Kwon Young-se, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, and Yoo Sang-im, Minister of Science and ICT, are taking a commemorative photo at the ruling party-government meeting to strengthen AI competitiveness held at the National Assembly on the 18th. 2025.2.18 Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Chairman Kim said, "Floor Leader Kwon Seong-dong proposed introducing a groundbreaking scholarship system for university students studying national advanced strategic technologies such as AI, semiconductors, secondary batteries, and bio, allowing them to challenge themselves freely, and to implement free education in the mid to long term. The ruling party and government agreed to actively promote these matters."

He added, "Through public-private cooperation, the government plans to secure 10,000 high-performance GPUs within this year and expand the current 2,000 cutting-edge GPUs (as of 2023) tenfold by the first half of next year so that the research community can use them immediately. The party will support this government plan."

As the government plans to establish the 'National Artificial Intelligence Committee' this week and promote AI capability enhancement and detailed matters, the People Power Party has also set a policy to actively pursue future and livelihood supplementary budgets to leap into the top three AI powers as soon as government policies are finalized.

Choi Hyung-doo, the ruling party's ranking member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, said, "Last year, the ruling and opposition parties agreed on an increase of 1.2 trillion won in the AI infrastructure expansion budget amid political strife in the committee. Considering that the golden time is the first half of this year, I proposed that a budget of about 2 trillion won, including an additional 800 billion won, is needed to cover GPUs and infrastructure."

Song Sang-hoon, Policy Director of the Ministry of Science and ICT, explained, "The AI Computing Center will be promoted as a special purpose corporation (SPC) through public-private partnership. The government and the private sector will each invest 200 billion won, starting with a total of 400 billion won, and provide policy financing worth a total of 2.5 trillion won."

Meanwhile, voices were raised at the ruling party-government meeting calling for the swift passage of the Semiconductor Special Act, which includes an exception to the 52-hour workweek regulation for R&D personnel, to strengthen competitiveness.

Kwon Seong-dong, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, said, "The urgent passage of the Semiconductor Special Act and the Power Grid Expansion Act, which include the essential 52-hour workweek exception clause for AI development, is critical. A Semiconductor Special Act without the 52-hour exception cannot be called a special act. Who exactly is the Democratic Party trying to benefit by holding back semiconductors and AI?" he criticized.

Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the party's AI Special Committee, said, "I think the 52-hour workweek is a sufficiently good system for production, but a completely different rule applies to development. The reason the Democratic Party opposes the 52-hour exception now is because they do not understand from experience that development goes through a process very different from production," he criticized.