[Editorial Note] Why Morocco in Africa Is Attracting Leading Global Companies

Recently, NAVER delivered news of a major achievement from Morocco, a North African country located about 10,000 kilometers from Korea, where its technological capabilities have been recognized. NAVER will participate in the construction of an ultra-large 500MW artificial intelligence (AI) data center alongside companies such as NVIDIA. By putting sovereign AI at the forefront, NAVER is expanding into Africa following its advances in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Even NAVER employees expressed surprise, saying they had not expected such success. Sovereign AI refers to the effort to secure a country's own data, infrastructure, and workforce, independent of American big tech companies. NAVER is playing a role in helping countries with relatively weak AI capabilities achieve technological self-sufficiency.

This process also requires a significant commitment and strong execution from the host country. In Morocco, a first-phase 40MW computing infrastructure will be established within this year. In Korea, such a project would likely have been delayed for years due to lengthy licensing procedures, power supply issues, or opposition from local residents.

A review of the "Digital Morocco 2030" strategy announced by the Moroccan government in September last year shows that Morocco is already one step ahead of Korea in terms of AI industry development policies. Morocco plans to invest $1.1 billion (about 1.5 trillion won) to expand its AI infrastructure and accelerate digitalization across all sectors. The country aims to position itself as a digital hub by easing various regulations and maximizing its geographical advantage of proximity to Europe and its undersea cable network. Morocco is also actively attracting investment by offering tax exemptions to foreign investors and streamlining administrative procedures.

In response, last year, the American company Oracle signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Moroccan government, pledging an investment of $140 million (about 190 billion won) over the next five years. Oracle will expand its research and development (R&D) activities, including increasing the number of local IT experts to 1,000, and will establish two cloud regions. Cloud regions, which serve a similar function to data centers, not only store users' data but also help run applications (apps) quickly and securely. This is expected to drive digital innovation across all sectors of academia, industry, and research in Morocco.

In contrast, domestic AI policy in Korea has struggled to gain momentum. Startups and researchers are left waiting due to a shortage of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential for AI model development, and the "National AI Computing Center," which was intended to be operated through public-private joint investment, failed to attract participating companies and the project was left unawarded.

The case of Morocco offers important lessons for Korea's new government, which is aiming to invest 100 trillion won in AI. While financial investment is important, it is even more crucial to reflect the voices of businesses in policymaking. Only by eliminating regulations that increase corporate burdens and restrict autonomy can AI talent fully realize their potential and gain the confidence to pursue overseas markets with sovereign AI.