Seoul: South Korea's science ministry announced it has selected five consortiums led by prominent artificial intelligence (AI) companies to receive government support for developing indigenous AI models. This initiative aims to enhance the nation's competitiveness in the AI sector.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the consortiums, spearheaded by Naver Cloud Corp., Upstage, SK Telecom Co., NC AI Co., and LG AI Research, will benefit from state support to create homegrown AI foundation models. These foundation models are large-scale systems trained on extensive data, capable of performing a variety of tasks.

Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon stated, "The project will mark the beginning of the development of AI for everyone." He further emphasized the government's commitment to assisting the advancement of South Korea's AI businesses and related organizations, as well as fostering the growth of a sovereign AI ecosystem.

The selected consortiums will have access to governmental resources, including graphics processing unit assets valued at 157.6 billion won (US$113 million). The government plans to finalize agreements with the consortiums regarding the scope of state support by early August. Additionally, the number of funded consortiums will be reduced to four by the end of this year based on their performance.