IITP Outlines 2027 AI R&D Budget With 55 Billion Won for Physical AI

The Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) unveiled the government's 2027 AI and ICT R&D investment direction, including 55 billion won in new R&D funding for five new Physical AI projects to develop advanced "robot brain" technology, according to techm.kr.

The 2027 AI and ICT R&D budget proposal totals 2.0755 trillion won, with 662.1 billion won allocated to three mega-projects: Physical AI, AI semiconductors and AI data centers.

The largest new Physical AI project, "초고성능 범용 피지컬 AI 파운데이션 모델 개발" (development of an ultra-high-performance general-purpose Physical AI foundation model), receives 28 billion won in 2027 and 177.3 billion won in total through 2031. The government aims to raise completion rates for complex, multi-step long-duration tasks to over 90%.

Other allocations include 120 billion won for "피지컬 AI 시스템 인테그레이션 및 실증" to test robots in manufacturing, logistics and daily-life settings, 85 billion won for learning-data optimization, 45 billion won for a simulation platform bridging real and virtual environments, and 20 billion won for safety technology and an evaluation platform.

The total project cost for the five new projects from 2027 to 2031 is about 348.3 billion won. Projects will be evaluated annually in stages instead of only at completion, and commercialization-oriented projects are to reach Technology Readiness Level 8.