President Lee indicates budget supplement for GPUs if needed

President Lee Jae-myung has signaled a potential willingness to allocate additional funds for Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) should the government pursue a supplementary budget. The president's statement came during a strategy meeting on fostering innovative companies for future security, in response to comments from SIA CEO Jeon Tae-gyun regarding insufficient GPU resources.

"I don't know if we will have a supplementary budget, but if we need to purchase them, we should probably supplement the budget," Lee remarked, acknowledging the growing demand for GPUs. He further noted that "GPUs are increasingly needed on a large scale," suggesting that "additional funds will likely be required."

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I don't know if we will have a supplementary budget, but if we need to purchase them, we should probably supplement the budget.

The Blue House later clarified that President Lee's remarks were a general endorsement of increasing investments to boost growth potential, including GPU procurement. "Whether a supplementary budget will be enacted has not been decided," a Blue House official stated, tempering expectations about immediate budget supplementation.

During the meeting, President Lee also responded positively to a proposal by Pablo Air Chairman Kim Young-joon to create a large-scale, multi-domain security special zone for testing unmanned systems across land, sea, and air. Lee suggested exploring locations, even remote islands, where drone testing could occur without significant risk, adding a practical consideration to the ambitious proposal.

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GPUs are increasingly needed on a large scale. ... Additional funds will likely be required.