Korea must act now to become a global AI leader
Published: 13 May. 2025, 00:03
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

The author is the president of KAIST and co-chair of the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property.
The age of artificial intelligence has arrived. No longer a field confined to academia or tech laboratories, AI is now a force shaping entire nations — economically, socially, culturally and militarily. With such transformative power, global competition is fierce. Korea, aiming to position itself as one of the top three AI powers alongside the United States and China, must respond with urgency and strategy.
To succeed, Korea must strengthen five key pillars in the AI sector: talent, infrastructure, data, capital and markets. Each requires deliberate, coordinated investment and reform.
![OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a press conference in Tokyo on Feb. 3. Japan's SoftBank Group will form a joint venture with the U.S. tech giant to offer advanced AI to businesses, SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son announced on Feb. 3. [AFP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/13/b2741e88-0b17-491d-9dd7-90e742209c15.jpg)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a press conference in Tokyo on Feb. 3. Japan's SoftBank Group will form a joint venture with the U.S. tech giant to offer advanced AI to businesses, SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son announced on Feb. 3. [AFP/YONHAP]
People and Technology: The foundation of AI
At the heart of AI is technology, and at the heart of technology is people. Korea must double the number of AI professionals it trains. This requires expanding enrollment in AI-related departments at universities and graduate schools. It also means offering powerful incentives to attract top talent.
Establishing a dedicated AI research institute is vital, but not in the mold of existing government-funded research centers, which often suffer from inefficiency. Instead, Korea should build a networked research consortium involving its top universities. This would allow for rapid setup, better talent circulation, and more flexible collaboration.
Korea could also take inspiration from China’s gifted education model, which nurtures mathematical talent from middle school through university. Liang Wenfeng, the founder of AI startup DeepSeek, is a product of this system. Korea’s gifted education programs are minimal by comparison. The nation has long focused on standardized education, but now must invest in systems that identify and cultivate exceptional individuals across various criteria.
Infrastructure: Centralized, scalable and sustainable
AI development demands powerful computing infrastructure. GPUs, essential for training and inference, must be housed in centralized, high-capacity data centers. The government plans to secure 10,000 GPUs, but merely acquiring the hardware is not enough.
These GPUs must be installed in centralized facilities to allow for large-scale training. Dispersed deployment reduces efficiency and hinders the development of large AI models. Site selection must also account for energy availability. Given the projected demand — millions of GPUs in the coming decades — centers should be located near power plants, possibly even nuclear, and close to natural water sources for cooling.
![The DeepSeek logo [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/13/861073b4-fd34-4da5-b454-556724e60d0c.jpg)
The DeepSeek logo [REUTERS/YONHAP]
These data centers do not need to be in the capital region, since users can access them remotely via high-speed networks. With proper planning, Korea can build a national infrastructure capable of supporting its AI ambitions.
Data: Quality, access and regulation
Data is the lifeblood of AI. High-quality, high-volume data sets are essential for training effective models. While early AI systems drew freely from the internet, that era is over. News articles, once easily scraped, now involve copyright concerns. Privacy regulations have also tightened, especially in Korea, where data protection laws are among the world’s strictest.
To unlock AI’s full potential, Korea must reform its data privacy regime. This does not mean abandoning protections, but aligning more closely with the practices of peer nations such as Japan. Striking a balance between personal privacy and economic competitiveness is essential.
Korea should also pursue domain-specific AI models that reflect its industrial strengths and cultural context — such as in health care, manufacturing, defense and content creation — rather than compete directly in general-purpose AI. Additionally, as AI becomes integrated into daily life, there will be a growing need for verification systems to ensure its safety, akin to current standards for food and electronics.
Capital: Strategic investment, not just market forces
AI research and infrastructure require massive capital. Building and maintaining GPU data centers entails trillions of won in investments. OpenAI, for instance, reportedly spends hundreds of billions of won per month just on electricity for its operations.
Korea should avoid leaving this burden entirely to the private sector. AI is a strategic industry with national security implications. Just as the government once supported the rise of its automotive, steel and shipbuilding industries, it must now directly fund AI development. A focused approach could involve selecting two or three companies as national AI champions and providing them with substantial financial support to scale globally.
Beyond core AI development, Korea must also boost AI application sectors. Historically, software applications have generated more value than the core infrastructure. During the Kim Dae-jung administration, for example, Korea invested heavily in internet applications, creating an ecosystem that laid the foundation for today’s digital economy. A similar approach is now needed to build the AI ecosystem.
Expanding markets: Strategic alliances beyond borders
Finally, Korea must overcome the limitations of its domestic market. AI models become economically viable when they serve populations in the hundreds of millions. This means expanding beyond national borders.
Strategic partnerships with Southeast Asia and the Middle East could unlock new opportunities. Many of these nations are eager to adopt AI technologies but lack the technical expertise. Korea, with strong technical know-how but limited capital, is well-positioned to collaborate. Language barriers are becoming less relevant with advances in machine translation.
Korean AI companies have already begun partnering with such countries. These collaborations can offer mutual benefits — access to capital for Korea and access to advanced technology for its partners. Such alliances would also help ensure that AI development is not dominated solely by the United States and China.
In sum, if Korea strengthens its capabilities across these five pillars, it has a realistic path to becoming one of the world’s top three AI nations. But the window of opportunity is narrow. The time to act is now.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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