Up to 5 Trillion Won Sought... "GPU Supplementary Budget Gains Momentum" Amid DeepSeek Shock

Responding to the DeepSeek Shock and AI Development Strategies
Up to 2 Trillion Won Needed to Secure 20,000 GPUs
What Is the Appropriate Level of Support? AI Expert Says "The More, the Better"

There have been growing concerns that one of the main reasons for South Korea's lagging competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI) is a shortage of high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs). In response, the AI industry, the National Assembly, and the government are calling for a supplementary budget. As a result, it is expected that a multi-trillion-won budget allocation for the purchase of tens of thousands of GPUs will gain momentum.

On the morning of February 4, the Democratic Party of Korea's Special Committee on Science and Technology Innovation held an emergency meeting titled "Responding to the DeepSeek Shock and Strategies for AI Development" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, and met with representatives from the AI industry.

Ha Jungwoo, head of Naver Future AI Center, who attended the meeting, stated, "In order to foster AI talent and help technology startups develop their capabilities, it is necessary to experiment with NVIDIA GPUs." He emphasized, "The government aims to secure 30,000 GPUs by 2030, but it is important to accelerate the pace and increase the scale." The NVIDIA H100, known as the benchmark for high-performance GPUs, costs around 50 million won per unit, and it is widely recognized that a large number of such chips are needed to run AI models. Korean companies are struggling with GPU shortages due to the high prices.

Ha also pointed out that China's DeepSeek AI model was not actually developed at a low cost. He said, "It is reported that DeepSeek 'V3' was created with 8 billion won, but this figure does not account for trial and error during the development process." He added, "According to DeepSeek's published paper, the 8 billion won refers only to the cost incurred after the model was completed and operational." This means the actual cost of developing the DeepSeek AI model was much higher than the disclosed 8 billion won.

He further explained, "Since a single failure could result in losses of several billion won, it is difficult to attempt AI development in Korea with our current computing infrastructure unless the method is thoroughly validated." He stressed, "Significant investment in computing infrastructure is needed to enable experimental and innovative attempts that can foster talent and technology startups."

When Hwang Jeonga, the Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the Special Committee on Science and Technology Innovation, asked about the scale of support needed for computing infrastructure investment in relation to the supplementary budget, Ha responded, "The more, the better." He explained, "Purchasing 20,000 H100 units would cost about 1 trillion won based on a simple calculation. If you also consider the cost of connecting GPUs with high-performance networks, I understand that up to 2 trillion won would be needed to purchase nearly 20,000 units."

Ha also proposed a GPU support scheme that would match private and government funding. He suggested, "If it is difficult to execute the purchase with only government funds, what about a plan where companies buy 5,000 units and the government purchases another 5,000 to 10,000 units, so that a total of about 15,000 units can be used by AI companies or consortiums?" He added, "Since national funds are involved, the resulting AI models should be released as open source, allowing domestic companies to use them freely and helping the Korean AI ecosystem to develop."

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Lawmakers who attended the meeting also expressed consensus on the need for an AI supplementary budget. Choi Minhee, a Democratic Party lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, stated, "China is pledging 690 trillion won for AI development, and U.S. President Donald Trump is proposing 700 trillion won, but the supplementary budget requested for AI research and development is only 1 trillion won." She added, "The National Assembly will secure the supplementary budget as soon as possible and support it with laws and systems."

If a supplementary budget is formulated, the projects that were approved by the relevant standing committee during this year's budget review are likely to serve as the basis. These include the AI research computing support project for securing GPU infrastructure (321.7 billion won), the creation of an AI Transformation (AX) demonstration valley (95.7 billion won), support for the development of hyper-scale AI-based virtual convergence services (16 billion won), and the construction of an AI gifted school (19.6 billion won). In addition, opposition lawmakers have called for a supplementary AI budget of at least 5 trillion won. On the ruling party side, Ahn Cheolsoo of the People Power Party stated on Facebook on February 2, "We must urgently pursue a 20 trillion won supplementary budget for AI and people's livelihoods."

Meanwhile, Yoo Sangim, Minister of Science and ICT, held a briefing at the Seoul Government Complex on the morning of February 4 to discuss the progress of this year's key initiatives. He said, "I think securing about 15,000 GPUs this year would be appropriate," and added, "By the end of 2026, or at the latest by early 2027, we should have 30,000 units." Regarding recent calls for an AI supplementary budget, he said, "If it happens, I hope the purchase of GPUs for AI will definitely be realized." The Ministry of Science and ICT had originally planned to secure 30,000 GPUs by 2030, but is now moving the timeline forward.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will announce a strategy for developing AI computing infrastructure at the end of this month, including plans to expand AI computing infrastructure and improve data center regulations. A ministry official stated, "The strategy to purchase 15,000 GPUs within this year and other plans for AI computing infrastructure development are based on the assumption of a supplementary budget."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.