The government is introducing various support measures, such as providing high-performance Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and data, with the goal of becoming one of the top three countries in the world for Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, it has been found that the AI infrastructure of Korean companies still falls short of global standards. The proportion of 'leading' companies achieving results through AI investment is 13% on average worldwide, while in Korea it is only 8%.

● 8% of Korean companies are leaders, 61% are in the follower group

Cisco, a global network equipment and security company, released the '2025 Cisco AI Readiness Index' report on the 15th, containing this information. This is the result of a global study conducted with over 8,000 AI leaders from 30 countries. Cisco explained, “We have identified how the results of AI investments have been appearing for each company.”

The report classified the AI readiness of responding companies into four stages: 'leaders', 'followers', 'adopters', and 'laggards'. Leading companies are those prepared for the future brought by AI, significantly exceeding the average in various indicators such as 'realization of financial and non-financial performance', 'measurement of AI investment effects', and 'practical AI transformation (AX)'.

In Korea, only about 8% of companies were included in the leader group. The proportion of companies in the follower group, which follows the leaders, was about 36% globally, but 61% of Korean companies fell into this category. This indicates that the AI performance of private companies in Korea is still not up to global standards.

Korean companies recognize the importance of AI, but it appears that this does not extend to budget allocation or infrastructure. 74% of Korean companies stated plans to introduce AI agents. However, only 27% are preparing budget allocations and funding strategies for this purpose. Only 15% designated AI as the top investment item in their corporate budget, all figures trailing the global average.

● AI infrastructure falls short of global average

Korean companies are also less proactive than the global average in expanding essential AI infrastructure such as GPUs and data centers. While 26% of companies globally reported having sufficient GPUs, only 16% of Korean companies did. The proportion of companies planning to expand data center capacity within the next year was also lower in Korea (32%) compared to the global average (43%).

Experts suggest that the gap between companies' perception of AI and actual investment could ultimately lead to AI inefficiency. An AI industry insider stated, “Simply adopting AI without investing results in no performance and a poorly established AI ecosystem.”

In response, the government plans to support companies in adopting AI and achieving tangible results. On the 15th, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups signed a multi-ministerial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote AX dissemination. They plan to support startups and small and medium-sized enterprises struggling to achieve results through AI adoption.

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