South Korea to create sovereign AI

11.08.2025

Vladimir Sleeper South Korea has tasked several major companies and promising startups with creating a national foundational AI model using predominantly domestic technologies. This was reported by CNBC.

The project uses South Korean semiconductors and software. In this way, Seoul aims to create a practically self-sufficient artificial intelligence industry and become a competitor to China and the USA, journalists write.

ForkLog examined how and why South Korea plans to achieve "AI autonomy."

Strength

The head of the AI practice at The Futurum Group, Nick Patience, stated in a conversation with journalists that South Korea's approach differs from other countries and regions.

"The country aims to combine its dominance in memory chip production with the development of its own artificial intelligence," he stated.

The Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technologies announced that five consortiums have been selected for the development of the technology. One of them is led by the telecommunications giant SK Telecom. It includes the gaming company Krafton, chip developer Rebellions, and other companies.

Among the leaders of other teams are LG and Naver.

"We are going through an important period in terms of our technological development. Therefore, Korea is paying special attention at the national level to building a technical foundation to ensure competitiveness," said Kim Taehyun, head of the basic models office at SK Telecom.

Strength

The initiative is aimed at leveraging the strategic advantages of certain South Korean companies and the technologies they are developing, which are critical for AI:

• SK Hynix produces high bandwidth memory, which is important for Nvidia products;
• Samsung is also a major player in the memory market and has its own chip manufacturing business;
• SK Telecom expands in the area of data centers;
• Rebellions develops chips for processing artificial intelligence workloads.

"The country has a complete AI stack — from chips to cloud computing and models, and also has a strong community of leading researchers who actively publish papers and obtain patents," noted Peishens.

Despite the high autonomy, the consortium will still rely on the graphics processors of the American company Nvidia. SK Telecom will train the developed models on its own supercomputer Titan, which consists of advanced Nvidia graphics cards, as well as in a joint data center with Amazon.

Roadmap

SK Telecom plans to launch its first model by the end of the year. Initially, it will be targeted at the South Korean market and will have open source code.

"Our first goal is to create a very powerful modern open-source neural network, and we already have examples of such solutions that are on par with major tech players like OpenAI or Anthropic," said Kim.

A national open-source AI model can benefit businesses across the country. They will gain access to the latest technologies without having to rely on foreign tech giants.

"In addition to internal benefits, a proven sovereign LLM has significant export potential. Just as Korea excelled in memory chip production, this neural network could become a valuable product for other countries seeking an alternative to American or Chinese systems, strengthening Korea's position in the global AI landscape," noted Peishens.

Sovereign AI

The initiative is based on the concept of "sovereign AI," which is gaining traction in many countries.

This is the idea that models and services which governments consider to be of strategic importance should be created domestically and operate on servers located within the territory of the state.

"All major countries are increasingly concerned about the sovereignty of artificial intelligence as the U.S. and China vie for dominance in this field. Given the growing influence of technology on critical sectors like healthcare, finance, defense, and public administration, authorities cannot afford to relinquish control over digital intelligence to foreign organizations," emphasized Peishens.

Other countries use different approaches. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia largely rely on American technologies when developing artificial intelligence. In Europe, great hopes are placed on the French startup Mistral AI, which has become a leading company in the region in the field of AI.

OpenAI will help the UK become an AI superpower

AI in the Military Sector of South Korea

War is the driving force behind the development of cutting-edge technologies. Artificial intelligence is no exception. South Korea has been actively integrating AI into the military sphere in recent years. The government sees LLM as a key element in strengthening defense capabilities in the face of modern challenges — from the nuclear missile threat of North Korea to the shortage of personnel due to demographic decline.

In the national AI strategy adopted back in 2019, special attention was paid to defense — in particular, the use and processing of big data through artificial intelligence. The South Korean military had already established an AI research and development center at that time to plan the implementation of technology in management systems, intelligence, firepower, etc.

General Algorithm

In 2023, the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol launched a large-scale program Defense Innovation 4.0 ( "Defense Innovations 4.0" ) aimed at integrating fourth industrial revolution technologies into defense.

One of the key projects of the initiative was the opening in April 2024 of the Artificial Intelligence Center of the Ministry of Defense. It was created over the course of a year with the participation of experts from the Ministry of Defense, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), universities, and private companies.

The center is developing technologies for the collaboration of manned and unmanned systems with elements of AI, situational awareness tools on the battlefield, and other artificial intelligence-based applications for the military.

An important emphasis is placed on so-called on-device AI — AI technologies at the device level that operate autonomously without a constant connection to the cloud. The Ministry of Defense believes that the artificial intelligence embedded in the equipment will ensure reliability and safety in combat conditions, where communication with the center may be absent.

Another government initiative is the creation of a unified defense cloud and the opening of military data for the industry. In July 2025, it became known that the government intends to share large arrays of classified military information with private defense companies to accelerate the development of AI weapons.

Funding

The government of South Korea places significant emphasis on funding AI initiatives, including defense-related ones. President Yoon has proclaimed the goal of making the country a global leader in neural networks and announced that by 2027, 9 trillion won will be invested in the development of the sector (~$6.94 billion).

Additionally, a separate fund of $1 billion has been established to support developers of domestic AI microprocessors, which are important for military applications.

Research and development expenditures in the defense budget are planned to be significantly increased: by 2027, their share should exceed 10% of the total defense budget. These funds will be concentrated on approximately 30 priority military technologies across 10 areas, among which artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, hypersonic technologies, and others are explicitly named.

In August 2024, the government also adopted a five-year "roadmap for technological sovereignty," involving investments of ~$23 billion in 12 strategic areas, including AI.

The defense industry itself is witnessing a surge in activity, supported by government funding and policy. Major corporations are forming partnerships and investing in military artificial intelligence. For example, leading defense electronics company Hanwha Systems signed agreements in 2025 with 11 leading universities and IT companies to jointly develop sovereign LLM technologies for the military.

The goal of this initiative is to create a domestic ecosystem for defense AI and reduce dependence on foreign software and algorithms in sensitive applications. In particular, Hanwha and its partners are developing a battlefield situational awareness model based on technology that will enable real-time detection and analysis of threats, as well as assist commanders in making decisions in air defense systems.

Areas of Application

In practice, AI is already beginning to be applied in the South Korean armed forces in a number of areas. First of all, these are unmanned and autonomous systems — from aerial drones to ground vehicles.

A few years ago, the South Korean army announced the creation of so-called dronebots — combat units equipped with swarms of drones and robotics for reconnaissance and strike operations.

After the incident in December 2022, when several North Korean drones violated South Korean airspace, Seoul significantly raised the priority of developing its own drones.

In 2023, a separate Command for Unmanned Operations began its work, utilizing compact reconnaissance drones and strike UAVs. When developing tactics, foreign experience is studied, including the successful use of Turkish Bayraktar drones in Ukraine.

By now, South Korea has established the production of several types of military drones with AI elements. In 2025, the startup Nearthlab introduced the strike drone XAiDEN, capable of carrying 60mm mortar munitions and operating as part of a swarm with autonomous coordination. This system is equipped with its own "thinking" based on artificial intelligence, allowing a group of 10 drones to perform synchronized reconnaissance, pursue, and hit moving targets without constant operator control. In the swarm, only one leading apparatus with a communication channel is needed, while the other nine follow algorithms and continue the mission even when GPS and radio signals are jammed.

If one drone drops out, another instantly takes over its role. According to the developers, this ensures a nearly 100% chance of mission success.

In addition to small UAVs, South Korea is developing larger autonomous systems. The state aircraft manufacturing corporation Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), in collaboration with the military research agency ADD, is leading a project for a drone "leader" for the KF-21 fighter. It is expected that the promising aircraft "Boramae" will be accompanied by a group of drones. The drones will be able to penetrate dangerous areas first, identify and attack targets, while the manned aircraft remains at a safe distance.

AI technologies are being implemented in the latest models of ground vehicles. For example, Hyundai Rotem, in collaboration with DAPA, is developing a project for the next-generation main battle tank K3 for the 2030s (, where a wide range of AI-based solutions is planned. The tank is equipped with a 130 mm caliber automatic gun with a loading mechanism installed in an unmanned turret, and the fire control system will be enhanced by artificial intelligence, which will take over the autonomous tracking and engagement of targets.

AI is also intended to be used to assist the crew in decision-making, managing sensors, aiming devices, navigation, and overall situational awareness.

The field of management and communication is also receiving attention. South Korea has begun developing the next generation of an integrated military command system, where AI plays a central role. According to the Ministry of Defense, the system will integrate the communication and information complexes of all branches of the armed forces, transforming them into a single controlled command and intelligence framework.

AI is increasingly being used in cybersecurity and intelligence. South Korean intelligence agencies are noting a rise in threats using neural networks and, in response, are implementing technology themselves to analyze cyber threats and large volumes of intelligence data.

The National Intelligence has been appointed as the coordinator for AI threats, and a group has been established within the government security apparatus to monitor the risks of artificial intelligence.

Military research organizations like ADD are also engaged in projects where AI helps process satellite imagery, predict enemy actions, and model combat scenarios. Although the details of such programs are classified, it is known that Seoul aims to use technology to enhance the speed and accuracy of decision-making in defense.

The application of generative models for training and simulation is also being discussed — creating virtual enemies and situations for soldier training, which has already been partially implemented on training grounds with augmented reality.

Key Players

The role of the state in promoting military AI in South Korea is decisive. Under the aegis of the government, cooperation among the "triple helix" is being formed: the defense ministry, the high-tech private sector, and research institutions.

The Ministry of Defense and other state structures )DAPA, ADD( act as customers and coordinators, determining priorities - whether it is unmanned systems, command systems, or cybersecurity. Major corporations - Hanwha, LIG Nex1, Korea Aerospace Industries, Hyundai Rotem, and others - have become key industrial partners, investing their resources and expertise in the implementation of government programs.

For example, Hanwha Systems showcases prototypes of maritime combat systems with AI — at exhibitions, the company presented shipborne combat information and control systems capable of identifying targets and distributing threats more quickly using LLM.

LIG Nex1 develops fire control systems and precision weapons, where computer vision algorithms are implemented for guidance. KAI, as noted, is responsible for avionics with elements of artificial intelligence.

Large telecommunications and IT companies are also getting involved. The operator of the largest cloud platform Naver is participating in military cloud projects and intelligence processing algorithms, while KT and Samsung SDS are certified as cloud service providers for the military.

Academic institutions — KAIST, Korea Advanced Institute of Defense Technology, leading universities — receive government grants for research in military AI and prepare specialists for this field.

Recall that in July, the Government of India supported the startup QpiAI as part of the National Quantum Mission.