South Korea hopes to become a key player in meeting emerging global demand for next-generation AI chips, and today the government unanimously put some money into it. The country’s Ministry of Science, Information and Communication said it would allocate $642.5 million (826.2 billion won). ) until 2030, invest in companies working on advanced AI chips. The investment includes projects such as building new data centers and working with AI chip start-ups and cloud service providers.
The news touches on some notable trends in the current technology world. For one, his current OpenAI/ChatGPT frenzy. Recent advances in generative AI point to a future where AI is creating new waves of services and making existing processes more efficient. Tech — We’re looking at how this works. However, data processing by AI requires enormous processing power. It presents an opportunity and demand for better chips and architectures to run these services more efficiently, and then a race begins among companies and countries to meet that demand.
Add to that the possibility of South Korea’s macroeconomics. There is a lingering question mark about what role China will play in the world of hardware and advanced technology, and this will have geopolitical as well as economic ramifications. Complements China in the tech industry and really makes it more competitive. In fact, South Korea’s efforts are not alone. As Japan, India, the US and others seek ways to do more of themselves in the high chip race. South Korea’s advantage is that South Korea is already huge. South Korea is not only home to several iconic mobile her brands and services, but also a major supplier of components to an even larger roster of players.
Today’s announcement is part of the country’s larger digital strategic plan. The government’s Digital Strategy Budget, announced in September 2022, bets on his six key technologies: AI, AI semiconductors, 5G and 6G communications, quantum, metaverse and cybersecurity. AI is a big part of that vision. At that time, Seoul had secured about $795.3 million (1.02 trillion won) in AI semiconductors and his $235.3 million (301.8 billion won) in next-generation AI from 2022 to 2026. rice field.
(Note: The amount of AI semiconductor industry investment from the September 2022 budget to today’s news will vary, not only because of the timescale, but also because the funds are for different projects and have different timelines.)
As its first project, the city of Seoul will also hire AI chip makers and cloud companies in April to build two data centers called Neural Process Unit (NPU) farms that will use only domestic AI chips. The announcement shows that two data centers are due to open in his 2024.
Three South Korean AI chip makers (Rebellions, Sapeon Korea and FuriosaAI) have partnered with one of the cloud companies, including Naver Cloud, KT Cloud, KaKao Cloud and NHN Cloud, to build data center infrastructure, according to sources familiar with the situation. participate in the bidding. told TechCrunch.
Spokespeople for Rebellions, Furiosa AI, and Sapeon Korea confirmed to TechCrunch that they are planning to bid for data centers, but did not provide further details.
It remains to be seen which cloud companies will partner with which AI chip makers, but Rebellions is backed by South Korean telecom company KT and Temaske’s Pavilion Capital. Furiosa AI is funded by Naver. Sapeon, a subsidiary of South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom with funding from SK Hynix, SK Telecom and SK Square, will supply his NHN cloud with the X220, the first AI chip manufactured by TSMC and launched in 2020. doing.
Rebellions and Furiosa AI have yet to go into mass production. According to industry sources, both companies are aiming to bring the product to market next year.
Rebellions strategically announced earlier this week that it has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) chip called ATOM, manufactured by Samsung and used in data centers, chatbot AI and computer vision.
Furiosa AI also plans to unveil its second AI chip for chatbot AI applications, and plans to commercialize its second AI chip in the first quarter of next year.
Aside from the data center bid, the most notable strategic deal in the AI chip industry is the partnership between Samsung and Naver, the nation’s two largest technology companies, working together to develop AI chips.
South Korea aims to develop up to 50 types of AI chips, mainly system semiconductors. The company believes it could secure his 20% of the global AI chip market by 2030. According to a report by Allied Research, the global AI chip market is projected to reach $263.6 billion by 2031, up 37.1% from $11.2 billion in 2021.
