South Korea

Intelligence for Better Decision Making

DeepSeek Unveils Advanced AI Models Challenging Industry Leaders
Dec. 4, 2025 | Technology & Innovation

DeepSeek unveiled its latest AI models designed to rival the leading solutions in artificial intelligence.

**DeepSeek released DeepSeek V3.2 and a high-compute variant, V3.2-Spechiale.**
The company claims the base V3.2 rivals OpenAI’s GPT-5 in overall performance, and that V3.2-Spechiale matches Google DeepMind’s Gemini 3 Pro in inference while outperforming GPT-5 on select benchmarks.

**Moreover, V3.2-Spechiale reportedly achieved “gold medal-level” results at the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad and the International Olympiad in Informatics—benchmarks previously met only by private models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind.**
These results demonstrate DeepSeek’s capacity to handle advanced mathematical and algorithmic challenges at the highest levels.

**In terms of pricing, DeepSeek charges $0.28 per million input tokens and $0.42 per million output tokens for V3.2-Spechiale.**
By contrast, Gemini 3 Pro’s API fees reach $4 per million input tokens and $18 per million output tokens. This significant price gap positions DeepSeek as a competitive alternative for high-performance AI inference.

**However, DeepSeek admits V3.2-Spechiale requires more tokens than Gemini 3 Pro to produce equivalent outputs, potentially raising service costs and increasing processing latency.**
This inefficiency in token usage could affect customers’ overall spending and throughput when scaling deployments.

**DeepSeek developed V3.2 and V3.2-Spechiale amid US export controls that restrict high-performance GPU sales to China.**
Despite these constraints, the company used fewer floating-point operations (FLOPs) in training than its US peers, indicating progress in training efficiency and model optimization.
SoftWave 2025 Showcases AI Innovation and Industry Strategies in Seoul
Dec. 4, 2025 | Technology & Innovation

Industry leaders and professionals gathered at SoftWave 2025 in Seoul to explore emerging trends in artificial intelligence and software.

**SoftWave 2025 takes place from December 3rd to 5th at COEX in Samseong-dong as the 10th Korea Software Exhibition and Korea’s largest AI and software–focused business event.**
The Electronic Times SoftWave Committee organizes the exhibition, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, NIPA, KOSA and other industry organizations. Approximately 300 companies—including Douzone Bizon, Hancom and TmaxSoft—occupy around 450 booths. A new AI pavilion features over 80 booths under the theme “Artificial Intelligence, the Core Technology to Lead the Future Software Industry,” showcasing domestic AI technologies and institutions alongside joint pavilions by AI and software promotion agencies.

**Building on this exhibition, the second day hosts SoftWave Summit 2025 under the theme “APEC 2025: Global Innovation and Domestic Strategy – Global Tech Leadership and Domestic AI·SW Innovation Strategy.” Government, industry and academic leaders gather to discuss global technology trends and strategies for domestic competitiveness.**
The program includes export consultations, a C-level meet-up, VIP booth tours and a special conference on “Digital Disaster Recovery System Construction Strategy” scheduled for December 4th in COEX Conference Room 401. Organizers anticipate that these sessions will drive business outcomes through cooperation, consultations and policy alignment.

**Kim Hyung-cheol, director of the Software Policy & Research Institute, called for a strategic shift in forecasting, policy and industrial approaches amid US–China technological competition.**
SPRi’s “Future Digital Technology Outlook” and “DaRT 2026” forecasts project a shift from traditional S-curve technology diffusion to a “shark fin” pattern, with weak-signal technologies rapidly evolving into general-purpose technologies. He identified brain–computer interfaces, distributed AI alignment and quantum sensing as ultra-fast-growth areas poised for significant expansion in healthcare, smart homes and gaming. Generative AI has become a baseline general-purpose technology, spawning development-assist tools, while metaverse-related technologies have waned in novelty.

**Lee Kyung-min of IDC described how CIOs must evolve from IT operators to digital orchestrators overseeing organizational redesign in the AI era.**
He noted that organizations now measure AI value across nine metrics—including growth and employee experience—rather than solely speed or cost. IDC forecasts that by 2027 half of all AI applications will stall at the proof-of-concept stage, and Lee recommended expanding enterprise-wide AI teams. He emphasized composite AI and AI agent orchestration frameworks as core technologies driving broader adoption. As enterprises integrate AI into operations, they prioritize job redesign over elimination, creating roles for data-driven practitioners, exception managers and AI ethics experts to embed governance and oversight functions.

**The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed ongoing efforts to strengthen software policy and support AI-driven opportunities in manufacturing, finance, healthcare and public services.**
Its initiatives focus on building foundations for software-based value creation and facilitating AI applications across industry sectors.

**Industry stakeholders at the “AI Technology Standardization Seminar” hosted by the Korea Artificial Intelligence Industry Association pressed for practical AI standards tailored to manufacturing floors, large language model services and evolving global regulations.**
Representatives from the Korea Telecommunications Technology Association, the Medical Data Standardization Forum and private firms called for consistent definitions of variable names, data collection cycles, schemas and quality metrics. Jang Ha-young of Sseuromind stressed that factory data standardization is essential for predictive maintenance and energy efficiency. Lee Hye-jin of Tibel proposed a dual-layer verification framework combining general-purpose and domain-specific evaluation metrics via platforms like T-Lens. Mo Se-woong of SelectStar pointed to gaps between expanding regulations—such as the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001—and business implementation, and he recommended layered reliability frameworks that tie international and Korean standards to internal risk and quality management systems, supported by automated certification tools like “AI-Master” and “CAT.”

Monitored Intelligence for South Korea - Dec. 4, 2025


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Erudite Risk takes an all risks approach to intelligence reporting. We categorize key intelligence into one of 40 different risk intelligence categories.

The goal is to provide intelligence that allows decision makers to avoid being blindsided by what they may have missed, while informing them to make better decisions as well.

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Seoul commits to nuclear treaty obligations amid nuclear-powered submarine development plan

Yonhap | English | News | Dec. 4, 2025 | Geopolitical Conflict and Disputes

On December 2, 2025, the South Korean government reaffirmed its commitment to fully comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations while pursuing plans to build nuclear-powered submarines and gain rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. This assurance was made during a high-level meeting in Seoul between Lee Chul, director of the International Organizations and Nuclear Affairs Bureau at South Korea’s foreign ministry, and Massimo Aparo, head of the Department of Safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

During the meeting, Lee pledged transparent cooperation with the IAEA, which was met with appreciation by Aparo, who expressed a desire to maintain close collaboration. They discussed ongoing developments in IAEA safeguards and shared views on verifying North Korea’s nuclear program. Both parties agreed to continue regular consultations and policy meetings to strengthen cooperation.

This development follows approval from U.S. President Donald Trump in October 2025, authorizing Seoul to deploy nuclear-powered submarines and acquire rights to enrich civil uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes. The discussions underscore South Korea’s efforts to advance its nuclear capabilities while maintaining international non-proliferation commitments.

2026년 산업부 예산 9조4342억원 확정…18.8% 증가

2026 Ministry of Industry Budget Confirmed at 9.4342 Trillion Won, an 18.8% Increase

ZD Net Korea | Local Language | News | Dec. 4, 2025 | UndeterminedBudgets-Budgeting

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 2026 budget was confirmed at 9.4342 trillion won, marking an 18.8% increase of 1.4912 trillion won from the current year's budget. During the National Assembly's deliberations, the original government proposal of 9.7869 trillion won was adjusted with 352 billion won added for 57 projects and 704.6 billion won cut from 12 projects, including a 570 billion won reduction in trade insurance fund contributions for U.S. investment support.

The budget prioritizes overcoming domestic industrial challenges and advancing AI transformation, with 1.1 trillion won allocated for the spread of AI across industries, nearly double this year's level. Investments will focus on manufacturing innovation through the "M.AX Alliance" involving companies, universities, and research institutes. A further 1.7 trillion won, up 34.2%, is devoted to fostering advanced and leading industries to enhance global competitiveness.

To improve export competitiveness and assist domestic companies in adapting to changing trade conditions, the budget increases related funding by 18% to 1.2 trillion won and establishes a new program supporting overseas expansion of the distribution industry, capitalizing on the Korean Wave. Supply chain resilience will also be strengthened with a 1.9 trillion won investment, an 8.1% increase, including a new core minerals re-resource project.

The budget for regional growth and investment stimulation rose 18.4% to 900 billion won, with 409.9 billion won directed toward upgrading industrial complexes through AI initiatives and RE100 industrial complex creation. The Ministry aims for full budget execution readiness early next year to ensure fiscal spending effectively catalyzes economic revival.

“구리의 시대는 끝났다” 마벨, 4조원대 실리셜AI 인수…엔비디아·AMD 견제

The era of copper is over Mavel acquires trillion-won-scale silicial AI… checking Nvidia and AMD

Digital Daily | Local Language | News | Dec. 4, 2025 | UndeterminedMergers & Acquisitions

Marvell announced its acquisition of optical interconnect startup Silicial AI for approximately $3.25 billion, with a deal structure involving $1 billion in cash, $2.25 billion in stock, and potential additional payments of up to $2.25 billion based on revenue milestones. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2026. Silicial AI's core technology, 'Photonic Fabric,' offers significant advantages over traditional electrical signaling, including over twice the power efficiency, nanosecond-level latency reduction, and 16 Tbps bandwidth on a single chiplet, along with superior thermal stability for high-heat environments.

Marvell plans to integrate Silicial AI's technology with XPUs, scale-up switches, and 3D packaging to develop an all-optical scale-up fabric, which is expected to become the industry standard for next-generation data centers. This represents a shift from copper-based interconnects, targeting intra-rack, inter-rack, and intra-package connections that copper cannot adequately support. Major industry players like AWS have recognized the importance of optical-based interconnects for future AI cloud infrastructure.

The acquisition positions Marvell to compete in the evolving data center market, where several companies, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Google, are advancing packaging, connectivity, and scale-up networking technologies. The industry consensus is that as AI server architectures grow from rack-level to multi-rack and pod structures, the transition to optical connectivity is essential to overcome bottlenecks, making interconnect strategies as critical as chip performance in determining corporate value.

By acquiring Silicial AI, Marvell gains comprehensive data center connectivity solutions across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across domains, aligning with hyperscalers’ needs for alternatives in an AI infrastructure market currently dominated by Nvidia. Revenue contributions from this acquisition are expected starting in the second half of fiscal 2028, potentially reaching $1 billion annually by 2029.

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