South Korea Targets ‘World’s Highest-Performance’ Sovereign AI Model in Record Budget

According to CNBC, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung unveiled the country’s largest-ever budget on Monday, with total spending for 2027 set to rise 12.8% to 820.9 trillion won ($610.14 billion). The plan allocates 21.3 trillion won to semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers, nearly double the 2026 level, and 4.7 trillion won to developing a sovereign AI model Lee described as targeting the “world’s highest performance.” Lee said the increased spending would result in virtually no net increase in government debt, with newly issued bonds used to repay existing debt. Defense spending is set to rise 8.2% to 73.3 trillion won.