Home > Business > Tech

Gov't starts process to pick 1 more contender for AI foundation model development

Published: 23 Jan. 2026, 19:23

Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung speaks during a press briefing on the state-run competition to develop a homegrown AI foundation model in Seoul on Jan. 15. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday it has kicked off the process to select an additional company from local tech giants to develop homegrown AI foundation models under a government initiative.

The move came after the Science Ministry shortlisted three consortiums, each led by SK Telecom, LG AI Research and Upstage, while eliminating two others led by Naver Cloud and NC AI last week for the state-funded program to develop homegrown, proprietary AI foundation models.

The government plans to pick two final winners before the end of the year to receive state funding and various other types of support to develop such models.

An AI foundation model refers to a large-scale system trained on broad data that can be adapted for a wide range of tasks. The government aims to foster homegrown models as part of its push to become one of the world's top three AI powerhouses.

"Even at this moment, big tech players in the United States and China are taking on challenges for the future and bolstering their AI competitiveness," the science ministry said in a release.

"We aim to focus policy measures on enhancing Korea's AI ecosystem over the longer term rather than pursuing short-sighted results," it added.

While the ministry said teams dropped in previous rounds would be eligible to apply again, Naver and NC said they do not plan to submit a renewed bid.

Kakao and KT, which were eliminated at an earlier preliminary stage to select five bidders, also said they have no plans to participate in the second round.

Yonhap