South Korea plans to cultivate 20 AI unicorn companies by 2030.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of South Korea released the "Strategy for Cultivating AI Start-ups Beyond Unicorns" in Seoul on Nov. 11, proposing to cultivate 20 AI unicorn companies with valuations exceeding 1 trillion Korean won and one AI decacorn company with a valuation exceeding 10 trillion Korean won by 2030. The ministry will select 50 AI start-ups annually as candidates and provide research and commercialization funding of over 1 billion Korean won per company for those that reach the final stage.
South Korea will also build a comprehensive validation ecosystem connecting AI semiconductors, cloud, and services, and expand the "Government First Trial and Procurement" program, which positions the government and public institutions as first customers, into the AI sector.