South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT has opened a dedicated centre to support the adoption and use of domestically made AI semiconductors.

The ministry held an opening ceremony on Tuesday for the K-AI Semiconductor Technical Support Center at the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT) in Seoul's Gangnam district.

Domestic AI semiconductors are a core foundational technology underpinning semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centres, which were presented on June 29 at the public briefing on three mega projects for South Korea's leap forward. The government has supported efforts to secure competitiveness in domestic AI semiconductor technology through research and development and demonstration projects since 2020. Recently, some companies have achieved results by entering commercialisation and mass-production stages.

As demand for inference rises with the spread of AI services and the buildout of AI data centres expands, the potential to use domestic AI semiconductors is also growing. Demand in the field is also strong for help with product selection, performance verification, and post-adoption software optimisation and maintenance support.

The Ministry of Science and ICT opened the K-AI Semiconductor Technical Support Center to accelerate the market spread of domestic AI semiconductors. For companies considering adopting domestic AI semiconductors, the centre will provide adoption consultations and technical consulting, in-depth consulting by use case, links to testing and verification support, software optimisation and technical support, promotion of best-use cases, and networking between demand and supply companies.

The ministry plans to expand the centre's support functions step by step to reflect feedback from the field. Linked with the Physical AI Alliance, which includes the Korea Fabless Industry Association, it will identify demand in physical AI settings for domestic AI semiconductors and seek ways to cooperate with supplier companies.

Attendees at Tuesday's opening included Second Vice Minister Ryu Je-myung (류제명), along with representatives from KAIT, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), the Korea Fabless Industry Association and domestic AI semiconductor companies.

Companies seeking to adopt domestic AI semiconductors can apply for consultations through the technical support centre's website, by phone or by email. Tailored technical support will be provided by linking specialised institutions and participating companies depending on the consultation.

Ryu said the inference AI semiconductor market, which is growing rapidly with the spread of AI services, will be an important growth opportunity for South Korean companies. He said the Ministry of Science and ICT will actively support the successful market entry and private-sector spread of domestic AI semiconductors through the K-AI Semiconductor Technical Support Center.