Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, who also serves as science and ICT minister, positioned physical AI as the country's next growth engine, pledging to "export Korea's factories to the world" on the back of a homegrown, full-stack platform.
Speaking at the 2026 national fiscal strategy meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung at the Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Monday, Bae called the current race to secure a general-purpose physical AI platform "the golden time to marshal national capabilities."
The government expects 2027 national tax revenue to top 500 trillion won ($332.6 billion), far above the earlier forecast of 412 trillion won. The windfall will seed a fund targeting youth, growth engines, regional development and talent, with semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI taking top priority.
Bae described AI data centers as the core infrastructure that mints the "production tokens" powering AI services, and said the ministry aims to secure 8.4 gigawatts of capacity by 2029 and 18.4 GW by 2035.
Projects are already confirmed in Sejong, Donghae and Ulsan, with three to four more sites under review.
Citing Morgan Stanley, Bae said physical AI represents a potential market of $60 trillion, about half of current global gross domestic product, and would spread beyond factory robots into defense, logistics, agriculture, caregiving and household chores.
"The nation that seizes the general-purpose platform will lead future industrial competitiveness," Bae said, adding that the government would run three public-private bodies as "one team" to keep the mega-projects on track.
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