Democrats Focus Intensely on 'AI Support Measures' at Supplementary Budget Meeting... Industry Says "GPU and Talent Acquisition Essential"

5th Supplementary Budget Meeting for Livelihood and Economic Recovery Held on the 18th
Industry: "GPUs Should Be Supplied in Large Quantities to a Few Companies"
Matching Government Support Funds for Securing Talent Also Emphasized

The Democratic Party of Korea listened to the voices of industry and experts regarding support measures for fostering innovative industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and bio through the supplementary budget. In particular, attention was focused on the industry's specific suggestions, such as securing AI-related GPUs and talent.

On the afternoon of the 18th, members of the Democratic Party of Korea, industry representatives, and experts who participated in the 5th supplementary budget meeting for the recovery of the people's economy held at the National Assembly in Yeouido are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Hwang Seoyul chestnut@

On the 18th, the Democratic Party held the 5th Supplementary Budget Meeting for Livelihood and Economic Recovery at the National Assembly in Yeouido. The meeting was held on the theme of fostering innovative industries such as AI, semiconductors, and bio, as well as supporting crisis industries. Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated, "Currently, the economic command center has collapsed due to the December 3rd insurrection, and the country's negotiation power has declined," adding, "Industrial support measures must be prepared as soon as possible."

At the meeting, attention was drawn to the industry's call for significant support for the AI industry. Ha Jung-woo, head of the AI Innovation Center at Naver Cloud, said, "There is a need to scale up GPU acquisition," adding, "We should aim to secure about 50,000 units including NPUs by next year, and around 500,000 units by 2030."

Ha explained, "Currently, NVIDIA almost monopolizes GPUs, but from a long-term perspective, it is also necessary to secure domestic semiconductors like NPUs," noting, "This is because it may become difficult to import top-spec GPUs due to strategic asset designation."

Additionally, Ha mentioned that distributing the secured GPUs in large quantities to a few companies rather than small amounts to many companies, and creating high-quality AI to open-source it, is one way to foster the domestic AI industry. Lee Young-tak, head of SKT Growth Support Office, also said, "When purchasing and supporting GPUs, to increase the fiscal multiplier effect, it is necessary to order companies receiving GPU support to create large language models (LLMs) linked to demand by providing GPUs free of charge."

Specific measures for securing AI talent were also discussed. Ha emphasized, "The focus should be on how to secure talent rather than training them," adding, "Considering professors' salaries, domestic salaries are about one-tenth compared to overseas, which makes it difficult to attract talent to Korea."

Ha suggested, "Currently, AI research in companies and universities is almost similar, so if students are guided by taking problems that companies need to solve as research topics, funding can be obtained from both sides." He further explained, "For global top 10 companies, the annual salary is about 700 million KRW; considering the cost of living, half of that would be acceptable. If a company supports 150 million KRW, the university provides 70 to 80 million KRW, and the government supports the remaining 70 to 80 million KRW, it would be a matching fund."

Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Do-gul said after the meeting, "Participants provided concrete alternatives," adding, "We will strive to reflect the issues raised in the supplementary budget or legislation as appropriate."

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