00:06Before you submit that application, Korea just bet big on the jobs of tomorrow, and
00:14it changes where you should be looking.
00:18The government unveiled seven seed megaprojects spanning small nuclear reactors, quantum chips,
00:27and space.
00:27LookPay just opened up ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to its entire workforce.
00:36Seoul National University is building a dedicated robotics research building with NVIDIA.
00:44Korea's telecom carriers already pulled in over a trillion won from AI data centers this year.
00:53It's Thursday, August 13th.
00:56Let's look at what this means for job seekers and graduates in Korea.
01:02President Lee Jae-myung announced the seven seed plan, pairing government co-investment with private companies to absorb early stage
01:13risk in small modular reactors, quantum computing, space, fusion, renewable energy, biotech, and supply chains.
01:24Corporate Korea is moving in parallel.
01:28Lotte's group-wide rollout of multiple AI models follows Samsung's earlier decision to open ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to its
01:40device division.
01:42Universities are following the same trend, with Seoul National University adding a robotics building to house a joint lab with
01:51NVIDIA.
01:52Here's what the numbers show.
01:55The seven seed plan targets commercial small modular reactors by 2035 and the world's top spot in quantum chip manufacturing
02:06by the same year, with a joint public-private company sharing early investment risk.
02:13Lotte signed a supply deal with OpenAI and plans to add Anthropics Claude and Google's Gemini next, starting with Lotte
02:25Innovate before expanding group-wide.
02:29Samsung's device division adopted all three models in June, one of OpenAI's largest known enterprise contracts, a move Lotte and
02:40other conglomerates are now following.
02:42Seoul National University's new robotics building will house NVIDIA's Physical AI Joint Lab, alongside its Robotics Research Institute, one of
02:55four university labs selected this year for funding of about 10 billion won a year for up to a decade.
03:04Korea's three telecom carriers earned a combined 1.02 trillion won from AI data center business in the first half,
03:15up 29% from a year earlier, as data center utilization approached full capacity.
03:23KT alone plans to invest 5 trillion won over five years to expand AI data center capacity to one gigawatt,
03:33but says it will scale only as real customer demand is confirmed.
03:39So what does this mean for you as you plan your next move?
03:44Earlier, we said Korea's bet on tomorrow's jobs changes where you should be looking.
03:51Here's what that means for your applications.
03:55Government mega-projects in SMR, quantum, and space signal where public R&D hiring and graduate research funding will grow
04:06over the next decade.
04:08So quantum, nuclear engineering, and robotics majors have real leverage right now.
04:14On the corporate side, AI fluency across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.
04:27So build hands-on experience with all three before you interview, not just one.
04:34What to watch.
04:36The Ministry of Science and ICT's rollout of its future pioneer task force, which will set sector-by-sector roadmaps
04:46for the seed projects.
04:48Locte's phased AI rollout beyond Locte Innovate to its wider group of affiliates.
04:55And Seoul National University's robotics building groundbreaking details expected later this year.
05:02That's today's AI Prism, students and grads.
05:08This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor.
05:18AI Prism is a WAN-IFRA award-winning series.
05:22We'll be back tomorrow.
05:24You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
