South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung presented a record 820.9 trillion won budget for 2027 to the National Assembly on 2 November, with AI at its centre, Korean outlet Digital Today reports.
The plan puts 21.3 trillion won, reported at roughly $16bn, into three “mega projects”: semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centres. That roughly doubles this year’s AI spending. Within the wider plan, 4.7 trillion won would go to a frontier AI project to build an independent Korean model, described as a national strategic asset. Another 2 trillion won would expand chip production through a special account, and 500 billion won would pay for on-site trials of physical AI, such as robots, in eight areas including manufacturing, smart factories and defence. An “AI for all” programme includes public AI agents to help people use government services.
This is a proposal, not law. Lee asked lawmakers to pass the budget and related bills by the statutory deadline of 2 December, and parliament can still change the figures.
The plan shows Korea trying to fund its own frontier model alongside the chips and data centres it already builds, rather than relying only on US or Chinese models.