The government has allocated a record 9.9 trillion won for AI-related spending this year. Software companies are also watching the impact of the budget expansion.

A government-wide AI budget briefing released on March 5 by the National AI Strategy Committee shows the government has set 2026 as the first year of its push to become an AI G3 and expanded the AI budget to about three times the previous year’s level.

By ministry, the Ministry of Science and ICT accounts for 51 percent (5.1 trillion won), the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy 17 percent (1.7 trillion won), and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups 9 percent (900 billion won). The core of the science ministry’s allocation, which makes up more than half of the total, is the expansion of high-performance computing resources (2.1 trillion won), underscoring an infrastructure-focused budget.

Of the science ministry’s 192 projects, 42 are related to infrastructure and hardware, and 31 focus on software and model development. The combined budget for the 31 projects totals about 638.3 billion won, about one-third of the high-performance computing resources expansion project.

Projects that directly support the development of AI agents and large language models (LLMs) have also been budgeted separately for the first time this year. Examples include the Leading AI Agent Nations program (20 billion won), World Best LLM data utilisation support (30 billion won), human-AI collaborative LAM development and global demonstration (66.7 billion won), and next-generation generative AI technology development (4 billion won). The Leading AI Agent Nations program consists of two projects. The National Information Society Agency (NIA) will handle infrastructure and ecosystem building (10 billion won), while the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) will oversee convergence and diffusion support (10 billion won). Eligible recipients are AI and data specialist companies, and the support ratio is 50 percent. The call-for-proposals schedule has not yet been released.

There are also voucher-type support programs aimed at smaller software companies. They include the AI integrated voucher, the ICT strategic convergence R&D voucher, building a development environment for AI utilisation services for all citizens, and creative technology development for AX innovation companies. The support program for rapid commercialisation of AI application products (AX Sprint, 600 billion won) will be operated by 10 ministries and agencies, including the science ministry (security), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and NIPA (consumer-facing areas), divided by field.

Two policy funds will also be provided for AI startups seeking to attract investment. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will create a deep tech and AI startup fund (300 billion won), and the Financial Services Commission will expand investment in AI innovation companies through the National Growth Fund (200 billion won). The schedule for selecting fund managers will be announced later.

The industry has welcomed the expansion of the infrastructure budget but raised concerns that smaller software companies may have limited room to access it.

One industry official said researchers and engineers in the field say software-side investment is critical, including data curation, algorithm optimisation and AI pipeline operations. The official said if the budget is concentrated on infrastructure, support for software development tools or the open-source ecosystem could become relatively insufficient, and administrative procedures and a large-company-centred structure could lead smaller teams to give up on applying for support, making an integrated support structure that links infrastructure and software in a balanced way necessary.