The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) held a meeting on the latest AI development trends and utilization/dissemination plans at the 63 Building in Yeouido, Seoul on the 5th, with the attendance of Minister Oh Young-joo and 20 leading domestic artificial intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) startups and experts.
Recently, Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the global market by implementing a low-cost, high-performance AI model, thereby destroying the existing view of AI model development that requires large-scale capital investment. In response, we have arranged this event to discuss the future direction of our startups and small and medium-sized enterprises and government policies.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the 'Super Gap AI Startup Level-up Strategy' in July of last year, and in the 'National AI Strategy Policy Direction' announced at the 1st National Artificial Intelligence Committee ('24.9), it presented tasks such as fostering five AI unicorns and manufacturing AI companies by 2027 and establishing the '(tentative name) Act on Promotion of AI Utilization and Diffusion by Small and Medium Enterprises'. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated that this meeting is also part of its ongoing efforts to activate the AI ecosystem.
This meeting was chaired by Jung-woo Ha, Director of Naver Cloud AI Center, and attended by Yong-jae Lee, CEO of Mathpresso, who developed Qanda, a math-specific AI model with approximately 100 million subscribers worldwide, and Hwal-seok Lee, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Upstage, who successfully attracted 100 billion won in investment from KT and others through the development of AI language model solutions for industries such as finance, law, and medicine, and presented various opinions.
Jung-woo Ha, head of Naver Cloud AI Center, who gave the opening speech, said, “DeepSearch has shown the possibility of developing a powerful thinking AI without astronomical investments like in the United States.” He added, “The government should focus on strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises by quickly completing the national AI data center and combining industry-specific expertise and AI inference capabilities through the AI+X strategy.”
In particular, after 2025, the AI development stage is expected to move beyond the hardware-centered first stage, such as GPUs and data centers, and enter the second and third stages, where the importance of software, such as AI smartphones and AI agents, will be further emphasized. Therefore, the development strategies of startups for new products and services in the future AI evolution field were also discussed in detail.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “The introduction and use of AI technology is supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to secure a competitive edge and acting as an engine that creates innovative results, so in the future, whether or not AI is used is directly related to corporate competitiveness.” He added, “Although DeepSearch has had a great impact globally, it serves as an opportunity for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that utilize AI. The government will also consider policies that can expand the use of AI, thereby further expanding AI companies and markets and building a virtuous AI ecosystem that leads to innovation in companies.”
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