The South Korean science ministry has announced the expansion of its private-led cloud computing industry to strengthen its competitiveness in the global AI era. The Ministry of Science and ICT unveiled the vision to boost local cloud companies by forming strategic partnerships with global entities, aiming to double the domestic cloud market’s size to 10 trillion won (US$ 7.3 billion) through 2027 from 2022.

According to the ministry, South Korea’s cloud technology is over a year behind global leaders, and AI cloud infrastructure remains underdeveloped. To aggregate the industry, the South Korean government plans to devise measures to adopt private cloud systems across education, finance, defense, and other public sectors. 

This would also include easing network separation regulations and expanding tax benefits for AI and cloud companies. In addition, the country will start developing a homegrown AI chip to be used for data centers and establish a national AI computing center with a capacity of more than 1 Exaflop.

An AI innovation fund will also be created to support the transition to a private cloud ecosystem, with the government investing 45 billion won next year while inducing further investment from the private sector.

The ministry has further stated that opening an AI safety research institute to support the “safe” development and application of AI technologies and the global expansion of local AI companies is also on its radar.