(LEAD) Naver Cloud consortium to develop sovereign AI model for cybersecurity

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- A consortium led by Naver Cloud Corp. has been selected for a government project to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model specialized in cybersecurity, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday.

The cloud and AI arm of portal operator Naver Corp. beat a rival consortium led by SK Telecom Co., earning high marks for its broad industry-academia-research partnership, technological capabilities and development strategy, among other factors, the ministry said.

The project aims to develop a sovereign cybersecurity AI model tailored to South Korea's security environment amid growing cyber risks stemming from rapidly evolving AI technologies.

The Naver Cloud consortium comprises 32 companies and institutions, including LG CNS Co. LG Uplus Corp., KEPCO KDN Co., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. and the Financial Security Institute.

The government plans to provide the consortium with up to 256 Nvidia B200 graphics processing units (GPUs) over the 10 months to support the development of the model.

On top of the 256 GPUs provided by the government, the consortium plans to deploy 4,000 B200 GPUs from Naver Cloud and 256 H200 GPUs from LG to train two cybersecurity AI models based on Naver's HyperCLOVA X and LG's EXAONE foundation models.

Naver Cloud said the HyperCLOVA X-based model will be optimized for defensive cybersecurity tasks, while the EXAONE-based model will focus on offensive capabilities, allowing the two models to complement each other across cyberattack detection, analysis and response.

The consortium plans to train the models using 830 terabytes (TB) of data from Naver Cloud, LG CNS and organizations operating critical national infrastructure and industrial systems.

The models will then be tested in seven strategically important sectors -- energy, finance, science and technology, telecommunications, semiconductors, defense and aerospace -- to strengthen AI-based cybersecurity capabilities across critical industries.

The ministry said it plans to sign a contract with the consortium later this month, paving the way for full-scale development.

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(LEAD) Naver Cloud consortium to develop sovereign AI model for cybersecurity

(LEAD) Naver Cloud consortium to develop sovereign AI model for cybersecurity