The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) announced that on Thursday, July 17, it will launch the “AI Startup LLM Challenge” project, which opens large corporations’ LLM* infrastructure to innovative AI startups and supports the development and commercialization of domain-optimized AI solutions through collaboration.
* LLM (Large Language Model): A large-scale language model that learns from massive datasets to understand and generate natural language

This announcement aims to enhance productivity by supplying AX led by AI startups to industries and companies, while also securing new market opportunities for AI startups.

Recently, AI technology based on LLM is being applied across various sectors such as manufacturing, finance, and content in the global market, rapidly evolving into a key tool for fundamentally transforming the competitive landscape of traditional industries.

Since March 2025, MSS has received continuous requests from the field to support collaboration between global big tech companies possessing LLM infrastructure and AI startups seeking to apply LLM-based AI technology in real-world settings. In response, MSS has established this project as part of the second supplementary budget.

In this challenge, three global conglomerates with their own LLMs, namely, KT, Naver Cloud, and Oracle, will participate and open a total of 19 AX projects for applications. MSS plans to select 20 AI startups based on evaluations of their technological capabilities and other criteria.

MSS will provide up to KRW 100 million in collaboration funding for each AI startup. The key projects and support details from the global conglomerates are as follows.

① KT

Using its own LLM, “Mi:dm 2.0,” the company will recruit six AI startups to participate in five projects, including the development of AI security solutions and report and content generation agents.

The company will provide AI startups with a development environment utilizing LLM, opportunities for proof of concept (PoC) with in-house agents, and a cloud test environment for service testing.
Outstanding startups will be supported through opportunities to participate in external business consortiums with KT and joint commercialization efforts.

② Naver Cloud

Using its own LLM, HyperCLOVA X, the company will recruit eight AI startups to participate in eight projects, including the development of AI agents for advanced data-based sales, inventory, and demand forecasting in manufacturing sites.

The company will provide AI startups with Naver Cloud credits, office hours, infrastructure architecture support, and security consulting. For outstanding startups, it plans to support new market access through opportunities to join the Naver Cloud Marketplace and adoption of their solutions by matched partner companies.

③ Oracle

Using its own OCI Generative AI*, the company will recruit six AI startups to participate in six projects, including the development of industry-specific (e.g., manufacturing, finance) AI-specialized solutions.
* A model that optimizes verified third-party LLMs on the company’s infrastructure and provides them in the form of APIs

The company will provide startups with an AI service cloud test environment, consulting, and cloud credits for proof of concept (PoC). Outstanding startups will be supported in registering their solutions on the global marketplace and securing global market access through business matching with its global partners.

Applications for this announcement will be accepted from Thursday, July 17 to Wednesday, August 6. Detailed information can be found on the K-Startup portal (http://www.k-startup.go.kr) and the MSS website (http://www.mss.go.kr).

Meanwhile, following this announcement, MSS will provide collaboration opportunities for leading domestic AI fabless companies to offer their NPUs* to super gap AI startups, enabling them to develop and apply AI solutions optimized for specific enterprises.
* NPU (Neural Processing Unit): A dedicated processor designed to optimize artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning computations.

MSS also plans to continue supporting the growth of domestic AI startups and the AX of industries and companies by facilitating technology transfer and offering specialized commercialization programs that match super gap AI startups with outstanding core technologies held by government-funded research institutes.

CHO Kyung-won, Director General for Startup Policy, stated, “Korea has a favorable environment for AI transformation (AX) of industries and companies, thanks to its manufacturing-centered industrial structure and the growth of data-based platform enterprises.”

He added, “The competition in the AI field is no longer about who develops the technology first, but about who applies it to industries and companies faster. MSS will continue to implement policies to ensure that AX led by AI startups can be swiftly realized.”