South Korea is lining up 4.7 trillion won (about $3.5 billion) for homegrown frontier AI

South Korea is lining up 4.7 trillion won (about $3.5 billion) to build a homegrown frontier AI model — the figure sits in the government's proposed 2027 budget. The science ministry says it will open applications for the new programme once the National Assembly finishes its budget review at year's end, with development potentially starting as early as February. Most of the money — 3.85 trillion won — is earmarked for expanding GPU capacity, the computing muscle AI models need. The programme runs alongside the country's existing sovereign-AI competition rather than replacing it.