South Korea is taking a huge leap into the future — and it’s doing it with style and a bit of swagger.
During a fiery address to parliament, President Lee Jae-Myung revealed plans to spend nearly ₩10.1 trillion, or about US $7 billion, on artificial intelligence next year, more than triple this year’s budget.
He called it the “next great national highway,” a foundation for South Korea’s long-term survival and global influence.
His message during the budget speech outlining the nation’s new AI roadmap was blunt: if the country falls behind in AI, it risks falling behind for good.
Part of that plan involves serious hardware muscle. South Korea has signed a landmark deal for 260,000 Nvidia GPUs, meant to supercharge research centers, industry, and government projects.
The agreement with Nvidia to supply cutting-edge Blackwell chips is massive, but it also comes with uncertainty. U.S. export controls and chip shortages could delay shipments — a reminder that even billion-dollar ambitions depend on fragile supply chains.
This AI gamble fits neatly into Lee’s wider effort to modernize how the nation is run. He’s been described as a reformer with a streak of rebellion, someone trying to reboot South Korea’s political and economic structure by cutting red tape and making the government more flexible.
As one profile of his reform agenda put it, he wants to rebuild the state for the digital age — fast, decisive, and tech-savvy.
Private companies are jumping aboard too. Amazon Web Services recently pledged $5 billion to build AI-optimized data centers in South Korea by 2031, boosting the nation’s digital infrastructure and signaling confidence in its future.
The announcement of Amazon’s expansion into Korea’s AI market aligns perfectly with Lee’s ambition to make the country one of the world’s top AI powerhouses.
Still, this grand plan comes with big questions. Can throwing money at AI really guarantee success? Will ordinary people see the benefits, or will it just fatten corporate giants?
Lee’s style is bold and emotional, and while that fires up supporters, it also divides critics who see the risks stacking up.
But there’s something undeniably exciting about watching a nation bet so hard on its own potential.
South Korea has always been the quiet innovator behind global tech — building the chips, the screens, the gadgets — while others took the spotlight.
Now it’s saying: no more sidelines. Whether it soars or stumbles, this AI gamble might just redefine what leadership looks like in the digital age.
