Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon speaks during a presentation for the national artificial intelligence foundation model project at Coex in southern Seoul, Dec. 30, 2025. Yonhap
The Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday it has selected a consortium led by Motif Technologies as an additional participant in the government-led project to develop homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) foundation models.
The newly admitted team — which includes the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology — will join the three previously shortlisted consortia led by SK Telecom, LG AI Research and Upstage.
Last month, the ministry advanced those three teams to the second round after eliminating two others led by Naver Cloud and NC AI in the first-stage evaluation.
The initial assessment examined benchmark performance, expert review and user experience, with technological originality serving as a key requirement. The ministry said Naver Cloud failed to meet the criteria for developing a fully independent model architecture trained from scratch, while NC AI also did not advance.
Upon announcing the results, the government said it would recruit one additional consortium to fill the fourth slot, as only three teams had qualified despite the original plan to advance four.
An AI foundation model refers to a large-scale system trained on extensive data that can be adapted for a wide range of downstream applications. The government is fostering domestic models as part of its strategy to become one of the world’s top three AI powerhouses.
“The consortium was recognized for its experience in designing AI models based on an independent architecture and for achieving performance competitive with global models despite limited data resources,” Kim Kyung-man, director general for AI policy at the ministry, said during a press briefing.
The only other applicant for the additional slot was a consortium led by Trillion Labs, while Naver Cloud and NC AI chose not to reapply despite being eligible.
All four teams will receive government support, including access to graphics processing units, data and other infrastructure required for large-scale AI training, the ministry said.
Source: Korea Times News
