South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT will open applications in December for its Frontier AI project, the government-backed effort to build a home-grown AI model capable of competing with the world's leading systems.

Applications will open in December, with a deadline in February 2027, according to the ministry. The selection of Frontier AI operators will run alongside the third-phase evaluation of the country's Independent AI Foundation Model programme, known as Dokpamo, which is also due to conclude in February.

Two programmes running side by side

The two programmes are separate but linked. Dokpamo is the existing sovereign foundation-model contest, in which three teams are taking part: SK Telecom, LG AI Research Institute and Upstage. In the third evaluation, two of the three teams will be selected as final operators.

A ministry official said the evaluation of the foundation-model programme and the selection of the Frontier AI model development operators would proceed sequentially in February. Companies taking part in Dokpamo will decide for themselves whether to apply for the Frontier AI project as well.

The Frontier AI project aims higher than Dokpamo. The government has said it is designed to produce a top-tier model able to tackle scientific challenges and cyber security work, where ministers judged that the existing programme had limits.

The budget behind the plan

According to the ministry's budget proposal, 4.625 trillion won will be allocated to support development of the Frontier AI model. About 3.85 trillion won is earmarked for buying Nvidia graphics processing units, 750 billion won for securing training data and 25 billion won for attracting AI talent.

The figures are proposals, not settled spending. The National Assembly still has to approve the 2027 budget in December, and the National Assembly Budget Office has projected that the development corporation to run the project may not be established until around October 2027.

Earlier reporting put the planned programme at 4.7 trillion won, with the government considering an equity investment approach under which it would take a stake rather than simply paying subsidies, and participating companies would be expected to match the public money with private funding.

Why Seoul is pushing now

South Korea is one of several countries racing to build sovereign AI capability rather than depend entirely on models developed in the United States or China. The Frontier AI project sits at the centre of that push, alongside a wider 2027 budget that sharply increases spending on semiconductors, AI data centres and physical AI.

Ministers have said they will press ahead with the national AI projects despite parliamentary questions about the cost, the decision-making behind the Frontier AI plan and whether the spending is enough to reach the top tier. The December application window will be the first test of how many companies are willing to commit their own money alongside the state's.

If the timetable holds, applicants will be chosen in February or March 2027, with development work to follow once the budget is approved and the project's structure is settled.