SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - South Korea’s top technology firms, artificial intelligence startups, and academic institutions are vying to lead a high-profile government initiative aimed at developing a sovereign AI foundation model — part of the country’s broader push to establish itself as a global AI powerhouse.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday it had received proposals from 15 consortia — described by officials as “elite teams” — for its Korean AI Foundation Model program, which offers government backing in computing infrastructure and AI talent development.
Each consortium is anchored by a lead company or research institution and includes industry or academic partners.
Major contenders include SK Telecom, Naver, LG AI Research, KT, Kakao, and NCSoft’s AI unit, along with startups such as Lunit, Upstage, and Konan Technology.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), one of the country’s top research universities, is also in the running through affiliated teams and faculty-founded startups.
The competition is quickly emerging as a three-way race among Upstage, LG AI Research, and Naver Cloud, each of which is leading a consortium.
Upstage has drawn international attention following the release of its next-generation large language model “Solar Pro 2,” which scored 58 on an intelligence benchmark published by analytics firm Artificial Analysis — ranking 12th globally. The result was amplified after Elon Musk, founder of xAI, shared the news on social media, boosting the company’s profile.
Both LG AI Research and Naver Cloud bring institutional heft to the race, with deep ties to the current administration. Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon formerly led LG AI Research, while Ha Jung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for AI Future Planning, previously headed Naver Cloud’s AI Innovation Center.
Telecom firms are also positioning themselves aggressively.
SK Telecom has partnered with game developer Krafton, AI education firm Riiid, and chipmaker Rebellion to form its consortium, following the release of its own AI model, A.Dot X 3.1.
KT is leading an independent bid leveraging its in-house AI capabilities, while LG Uplus is reportedly considering participation if LG AI Research is selected as a lead consortium.
KAIST, long seen as a critical player in South Korea’s AI research ecosystem, has assembled a team comprising internal researchers and faculty-affiliated startups, including former employees of major U.S. tech firms like NVIDIA and Google.
The ministry plans to evaluate the proposals in multiple stages: first screening for eligibility, then narrowing the field from 15 to 10 based on written proposals, and down to five after live presentations.
A final round of budget negotiations and adjustments will follow. The government expects to finalize contracts and announce the winners by early August.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
![[K-Tech] LG challenges OpenAI, Alibaba with new hybrid AI model, EXAONE 4.0](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2025/07/16/20250716125812230602_278_163.png)
View more comments