[Deep Analysis of 2026 Ministry of Science and ICT Work Report] The Reality of National AI Strategy Hidden Behind 260,000 GPUs and 9.9T KRW Budget

The government has officially formalized "Top 3 AI Nation" as a national vision -- the Ministry of Science and ICT presented a plan to leap Korea to an AI powerhouse on par with the US and China starting 2026. The largest-ever AI budget, national AI computing infrastructure, and independent AI foundation model development are the core axes. But is this declaration a technology strategy or an industrial policy? Examining the work report closely, interpretation is possible that it is closer to "an industrial restructuring project mediated by AI" than a "technology-led nation." The 9.9 trillion KRW AI budget: approximately 9.9T KRW in AI-related budget for 2026 -- approximately 3x increase from the prior year. Including 260,000 GPUs, national AI computing center construction, and data center regulatory relaxation. On the surface, "AI highway construction" as technical infrastructure expansion. But examining the policy structure, this is closer to an attempt for the government to design the leadership of the AI industry ecosystem rather than simple research investment. GPU allocation priorities, public/private utilization criteria, and national project linkage structures are all framed government-led. The critical question: who does this infrastructure actually open to? If it flows primarily to large corporations and government-sponsored projects, the AI highway risks becoming not "public infrastructure" but "exclusive industrial road for selected companies." The technological sovereignty experiment: independent AI foundation model is the most ambitious bet -- whether Korean-developed foundation models can achieve genuine capability parity with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic determines whether this is a strategic investment or an expensive symbol.