I think we have secured technological capabilities for AI Semiconductor that rival Nvidia.
Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, attended the "2026 K-AI Semiconductor Growth Forum" held at Lotte Hotel in Jung District, Seoul, on the 4th and expressed confidence in the technological competitiveness of domestically produced AI Semiconductor. Deputy Prime Minister Bae said, "Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is coming to Korea, and I think it would have been nice if he had attended today's event," adding, "I hope Korea's corporations will introduce competitive products and services in the global market so that people around the world can focus on Korea."
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, domestically produced AI Semiconductor recently won export contracts worth more than $30 million (about 46 billion won) in overseas markets including the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Vietnam, and China. There have also been continued cases of technological prowess being recognized in the global market, such as winning the Best of Innovation Award and Innovation Awards at CES, the world's largest IT exhibition.
At the venue, Deputy Prime Minister Bae observed demonstrations by domestically produced AI Semiconductor development corporations such as FuriosaAI, Rebellions, HyperAccel, and DeepX, and by demand-side corporations such as Samsung SDS and SK Telecom. He said, "The protagonists of today's event are our corporations, and the protagonists who will lead Korea to become one of the world's top three AI powers are also our corporations."
Deputy Prime Minister Bae said, "Until now, the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) was thought of as a low-power, low-cost model, but now expectations are high that we have entered a stage of producing products with global-level competitiveness and applying them in the field," adding, "The government will continue to provide more support and attention."
At the forum, cases were presented of domestically produced AI Semiconductor being applied in the field. An unmanned autonomous farm using a poultry management robot equipped with a chip from Mobilint, a domestic AI fabless (semiconductor design) company, led to contracts worth $1.5 million (about 2.3 billion won) with Malaysia and India. The disaster safety control solution based on CCTV and drones from Gyeongnam Technopark and Mobilint won the "CES 2026" AI institutional sector Innovation Award and achieved commercialization results worth 2.9 billion won.
The mobility support wheelchair platform for transportation-disadvantaged persons, jointly developed by LBS Tech and Dinotisia with the county of West Midlands in the United Kingdom, led to an export contract worth $500,000 (about 760 million won) with a U.K. public institution. Ecopis and Rebellions achieved export results of about $2.5 million (about 3.8 billion won) in Vietnam and Taiwan through services such as real-time aquatic pollution source detection, in collaboration with an energy company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Park Yoon-kyu, president of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), said, "AI competitiveness comes from infrastructure competitiveness that supports field application and service diffusion rather than the technology itself," and noted, "It is important to build an ecosystem in which AI Semiconductor leads to actual investment and sales."
About 300 people attended the event, including Rep. Hwang Jeong-a, the Democratic Party of Korea secretary of the National Assembly Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee, Rep. Choi Hyung-du, the People Power Party secretary, NIPA President Park Yoon-kyu, and officials from major domestically produced AI Semiconductor corporations.