South Korea tests 'sovereign AI' as domestic NPUs enter real-world deployment
By Wooyoung Lee ( April 30, 2026, 08:18 GMT | Comment) -- As South Korea doubles down on its sovereign AI ambitions, it has begun testing whether its long-running push for domestic AI semiconductors can translate into real-world deployment. The Ministry of Science and ICT conducted site visits to SK Telecom and LG AI Research to examine how domestically developed NPUs are being used in commercial services. The visits come as locally developed NPUs enter mass production, shifting the government's focus from development to commercialization — and raising the harder question of whether South Korea can build a vertically integrated ecosystem spanning chips, models and real-world applications large enough to matter globally.As South Korea doubles down on its sovereign AI ambitions, it has begun testing whether its long-running push for domestic AI semiconductors can translate into real-world deployment....
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