Government Injects 49.4 Billion KRW Supplementary Budget... "Full Support for Early Commercialization of Domestic AI Semiconductors"

A Total Investment of 243.4 Billion KRW in the AI Semiconductor Sector This Year
Large-Scale Demonstration Infrastructure to Be Built Over Three Years
Comprehensive Support for Fabless Commercialization

The government will inject a supplementary budget of 49.4 billion KRW to accelerate the commercialization of domestic AI semiconductor (NPU) industries. As there have been criticisms regarding the lack of support during the demonstration and commercialization stages following technology development, this supplementary budget focuses on addressing the "fabless company bottleneck."

On May 29, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced a call for projects in five areas, including the expansion of demonstration infrastructure and support for productization, under the supplementary budget for the AI semiconductor sector. Applications will be accepted until June 30. The ministry explained, "To vitalize the AI semiconductor industry, we plan to inject a total of 243.4 billion KRW this year across the entire cycle, from research and development (R&D) to talent cultivation."

This supplementary budget includes the advancement of AI computing demonstration infrastructure (12 billion KRW), development and demonstration of domestic AI semiconductor-based device AX (6 billion KRW), AX demonstration support (4 billion KRW), overseas demonstration support for AI semiconductors (5.4 billion KRW), and timely support for AI semiconductor commercialization (22 billion KRW).

First, the ministry will establish AI computing demonstration infrastructure based on domestic NPU. By the end of this year, it plans to provide demonstration infrastructure for LLM (Large Language Model) at a scale of 50 PF (petaflops), and to expand this to 120 PF over the next three years starting in 2026. The goal is to move beyond small-scale validation and create a foundation for testing the performance of domestic chips in real service environments.

There is also the "AX demonstration" project, which aims to convert commercialized AI services to domestic AI semiconductor-based platforms. Over the next two years, four demonstrations will be conducted to implement AI services linked to regional industries on domestic chips, with the aim of promoting nationwide adoption.

22 billion KRW will be allocated to "timely support for AI semiconductor commercialization." The plan is to support all stages of the process, including product manufacturing, chip card implementation, and server verification, through a voucher system, and to provide customized consulting to help fabless companies enter the market early. Recipients for prototype and mass production support will be selected through this announcement, while companies requiring design software (SW) will be chosen through a separate announcement next month.

The government will also provide stability and reliability testing at the card and server levels using the AI semiconductor verification system established in locations such as the Gwangju AI Convergence Complex.

Park Taewan, Director General of Information and Communication Industry Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "We have reflected practical policy needs through meetings with the industry," and added, "We will actively support the commercialization of domestic AI semiconductors within the golden time frame."