South Korea's AI Budget Hits ₩9.4 Trillion Era, but Physical AI Remains Under 5% in 'Imbalance'
South Korea's government is investing ₩9.4 trillion into AI, but critics note that less than 5% is allocated to 'physical AI' like robotics and manufacturing. Lawmakers are calling for better integration between large language model research and industrial applications to avoid an investment imbalance.
Why it matters
The debate highlights the tension between funding generative AI software versus the practical, physical implementation of AI in industrial sectors.
Add preferred source South Korea's government AI budget for next year will expand to ₩9.4211 trillion (approximately $7 billion), yet the physical AI budget—covering robotics, manufacturing, and logistics applications—amounts to only ₩462.2 billion (approximately $344 million), or 4.9% of the total. While physical AI funding has surged 10.9-fold in just two years, the gap with the overall AI budget has actually widened to ₩8.9589 trillion (approximately $6.7 billion). Frontier AI alone is slated to receive roughly ₩4.7 trillion (approximately $3.5 billion), underscoring a clear concentration of investment in large language models (LLMs). Japan, by contrast, is pursuing an integrated roadmap centered on Noetra that extends from language models into physical AI, with NEDO positioned to provide up to ¥1 trillion (approximately $6.3 billion) over five years.
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