The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that Minister Bae Gyeong-hun visited Naver's Sejong artificial intelligence (AI) data center on the 24th, where he personally inspected the facility conditions and held a field meeting with key corporations, associations, and academia representatives.
This visit was organized to recognize the AI data center as a key infrastructure of the AI ecosystem and to discuss practical policies for securing competitiveness across industries.
Minister Bae Gyeong-hun noted in his inaugural speech that to realize the new government's first pledge of becoming one of the top three AI nations, a robust AI ecosystem must be established, and world-class AI infrastructure must be created. As various services based on generative AI spread across all sectors of industry and daily life, the importance of the AI infrastructure that supports this has been repeatedly emphasized and is emerging as a key foundation for determining national AI competitiveness.
The government plans to lay the groundwork for the leap to becoming one of the top three AI nations by securing 50,000 advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) and building an AI highway. Additionally, through this effort, it aims to collaborate with the private sector to secure globally influential AI foundation models and promote the expansion of artificial intelligence transformation (AX) across public, economic, and societal sectors, enhancing citizens' access to AI to invigorate the AI ecosystem.
Before the meeting, Minister Bae inspected the on-site facilities of Naver's Sejong, where he confirmed key components of the AI data center, including servers, storage, power, air conditioning and cooling facilities, and network equipment.
The subsequent field meeting included various AI experts, such as Kim Yoo-won, CEO of Naver Cloud; Lee Joon-hee, president of Samsung SDS; Ha Min-yong, vice president of SK Telecom; Kim Se-woong, vice president of Kakao; Choi Ji-woong, CEO of KT Cloud; Kim Dong-hoon, CEO of NHN Cloud; and Park Seong-yul, head of innovation group at LG Uplus. Also present were Gang Joong-hyup, chairman of the Korea Data Center Association (KDCC); Park Yoon-kyu, head of the Korea Information and Communication (NIPA); Professor Lee Gyeong-mu of Seoul National University; and Professor Ryu Seok-young of KAIST. Participants discussed various measures, including improving data center-related regulations, expanding AI infrastructure, developing and disseminating AI models, and supporting AX, agreeing to actively support national AI development and future.
Minister Bae Gyeong-hun emphasized, "Building an AI highway, including AI data centers, is the starting point for Korea's leap to becoming one of the top three AI nations," adding, "It is crucial that the public and private sectors work together to expand AI infrastructure through bold facilitative investments and drive demand to activate the AI ecosystem." He further stated, "By listening to the voices from the field, I will actively devise and implement practical policy measures to promote private investment and resolve related challenges, concentrating national capabilities on this effort."