Science minister aims to make South Korea into global AI hub

South Korea appointed Bae Kyung-Hoon, a computer scientist with industry experience at Samsung, SK, and LG, as its new science minister in July.

In October, he was also named deputy prime minister.

President Lee Jae Myung tasked Bae with advancing the country’s AI sector, aiming to position South Korea among the world’s top three AI powers.

The government plans to increase AI spending to 10.1 trillion won (US$6.9 billion) in 2026, as traditional industries face tougher competition from China.

Recent deals include a partnership with BlackRock to invest in renewable energy-powered data centers, and an agreement with Nvidia to purchase 50,000 accelerator chips for AI computing, as part of a larger supply arrangement for Korean companies.

The ministry has launched a national project for foundational AI models, involving teams from Naver Cloud, Upstage, SK Telecom, NC AI, and LG AI Research.

A separate agreement with Nvidia and Hyundai Motor will support AI development for robotics and autonomous vehicles.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

South Korea’s AI budget backs GPUs and renewables with R&D

The 10.1 trillion won AI plan sets 2.1 trillion won in 2026 for computing, up from 1.6 trillion in 2025, and adds 15,000 GPUs for 37,000 units 1. A Nvidia deal for 50,000 chips sits outside this.
A BlackRock renewable energy partnership tackles grid limits that restrain data center power 2. ESR is a logistics real estate developer, and Princeton Digital Group (PDG) is a pan-Asia data center operator. They plan a $700 million Incheon site 2.
Budget allocations send 4.5 trillion won to nationwide AI transformation versus 600 billion won for AI-enabled science and technology innovation 1. A 7 to 1 ratio pushes data centers and power over pure research.

Suppliers can target 31 planned sites near Seoul

South Korea runs 58 data centers with 850 MW IT load capacity, with 31 more planned and campuses above 100 MW 3. LG Uplus is a telecom carrier, KT Cloud the cloud unit of KT, and SK Broadband an internet and network services provider.
LS Electric holds 60% of the data center power market and signed $76 million in US deals 4. Suppliers of high-voltage switchgears, transformers, and battery energy storage systems can pursue the 7 billion won data center interconnect program 1.
Cooling firms face urgent demand as sites move to high density AI racks drawing more power and heat 2. The 60.8 billion won budget for K-Cloud resource-sharing technologies leveraging AI semiconductors will need advanced thermal work 1.