From tech giants to startups, South Korean players are developing large language models tailored to their own language and culture, ready to compete with global heavyweights like OpenAI and Google.

Last month , the nation launched its most ambitious sovereign AI initiative to date, pledging ₩530 billion, (about $390 million), to five local companies building large-scale foundational models.

The move underscores Seoul’s desire to cut reliance on foreign AI technologies, hoping to strengthen national security and keep a tighter control over data in the AI era.

The organizations picked by the Ministry of Science and ICT to compete were LG AI Research , SK Telecom , Naver Cloud , NC AI , and the startup Upstage .

Every six months, the government will review the first cohort’s

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