'State of AI Report 2026' released, citing Korea as a sovereign AI case pairing in-house AI development with domestic market growth (report)

What happened

AI investment firm Air Street Capital released the 'State of AI Report 2026' on the 8th. The report says Korea is expanding sales channels for domestic AI companies through government procurement and AI vouchers. It also presents Korea's 2026 AI budget of 9.9 trillion won, its goal of securing at least 50,000 GPUs by 2028, and its policies to foster AI chips, train talent and develop its own AI models as one of several examples of countries competing on sovereign AI.

Why it matters

That a widely read annual industry report gave significant coverage to Korea's sovereign AI strategy shows how Korean policy is viewed abroad. However, a report the same day that foreign models outnumber domestic ones on the civil servants' AI platform suggests the gap between policy goals and actual adoption should be considered as well.

Sources

• Press "AI 직접 만들고 시장도 키운다"…세계 AI 보고서가 본 한국 ZDNet Korea