Gov't earmarks over $1.44 billion to acquire 50,000 GPUs by 2027 or 2028

Home > Business > Industry

Gov't earmarks over $1.44 billion to acquire 50,000 GPUs by 2027 or 2028

Published: 01 Sep. 2025, 18:18 Updated: 01 Sep. 2025, 19:00

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon speaks during a joint press briefing of related ministries on economic development of the Lee Jae Myung administration at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul on Aug. 22. [NEWS1]

The Korean government has allocated more than 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) in next year’s budget to secure graphic processing units (GPUs), a core component of AI infrastructure.

Budgets for research and development (R&D) in next-generation technologies — including advanced biotechnology and quantum science — as well as efforts to rebuild the basic science ecosystem, will also see major increases.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced its proposed 2026 budget on Monday, totaling 23.7 trillion won. The figure marks a 12.9 percent increase from this year’s budget — including the supplementary budget — of 21 trillion won, making it the largest budget in the ministry’s history.

Of that, 5.1 trillion won will go toward AI-related projects, accounting for more than half the government’s total AI budget of 10.1 trillion won.

In particular, 2.1087 trillion won has been earmarked for acquiring high-performance GPUs, surpassing the 2-trillion-won threshold for the first time. Just two years ago, the government’s GPU budget stood at around 100 billion won, meaning the budget has increased nearly 200-fold.

The government and the AI industry see the next two to three years as a golden window for Korea to remain competitive in the global AI race.

To develop competitive AI models and services within that period, acquiring a large volume of advanced GPUs in a short amount of time is seen as critical to building the country’s AI infrastructure.

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon speaks during a meeting on securing graphic processing units (GPUs) at the Kakao Data Center in Ansan, Gyeonggi on Aug. 29. [NEWS1]

As a result, the government plans to move up its target for acquiring 50,000 GPUs by two to three years, from 2030 to as early as 2027 or 2028. The Science Ministry plans to acquire an additional 15,000 GPUs next year, following the procurement of 13,000 units this year.

If the ministry also completes construction of the sixth national supercomputer — capable of hosting 9,000 high-performance GPUs — the total number of GPUs could reach up to 37,000 by the end of next year.

“There is not much time left if we want to survive the AI race being led by the United States and China,” Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said during an on-site roundtable on Friday. “The foundation for building competitive AI models and services is securing GPUs.”

Although Korea’s GPU acquisition plan still falls short of the scale pursued by global tech giants, industry insiders said the increased government support would help ease the severe shortage of computing power. Meta, for example, aims to secure 1.3 million GPUs by the end of this year.

Visitors to the semiconductor exhibition hall at the National Science Museum in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi look at explanations about the graphics processing unit (GPU) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) structures on Aug. 7. [YONHAP]

“At the moment, most AI startups only have access to a few hundred GPUs,” one industry source said. “They are building competitive AI models and services by optimizing usage with limited resources, so greater GPU support from the government will be a major boost.”

The budget for supporting Korea’s AI transformation — including GPU procurement — was set at 4.46 trillion won, up 29.7 percent from this year. A total of 5.93 trillion won, representing a 27.8 percent increase, will be allocated toward next-generation strategic technologies, including advanced biotechnology and quantum science. Another 4.51 trillion won, an 18.4 percent increase, will be allocated to restoring the R&D ecosystem.

The budget for the Korea AeroSpace Administration has also been set at 1.1131 trillion won, up 15 percent from this year. The funds will be used for the fifth launch of the Nuri space rocket and the development of next-generation launch vehicles.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KANG KWANG-WOO [[email protected]]