[Exclusive] "Only 1% of Needed GPUs Secured, No Place to Store Them"... AI Defense Plan to Cut Guard Personnel by 16,000 in Doubt

Ministry of National Defense: "Reducing GOP Personnel and Transitioning to AI Surveillance System"
Severe Shortage of Key AI Component GPUs
Lack of Large-Scale Storage Centers Even if Additional GPUs Are Secured

The Ministry of National Defense currently possesses only about 1% of the graphics processing units (GPUs) needed. While the ministry emphasizes national defense security utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), in reality, there is a shortage of these core components, and even if additional GPUs are procured, there are no available facilities to store them.

The Ministry of National Defense plans to convert the frontline General Outpost (GOP) into an AI-based scientific system to reduce the number of guard personnel to about 6,000.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on April 28, the military plans to gradually reduce the number of guard personnel at frontline General Outposts (GOP) and transition to an AI-based scientific surveillance system. Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-baek also stated at a press briefing on the 7th, "Currently, there are about 22,000 guard personnel stationed at the frontline GOPs. By implementing an AI-based scientific system, we plan to reduce that number to approximately 6,000."

The military estimates that around 50,000 GPUs are required to implement AI immediately. In contrast, the Ministry of National Defense currently holds only a small number of GPUs in its data centers. The total number, even when combining the holdings of the National Defense Data Center and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), is only in the 500s—just about 1% of what is needed.

The Defense Integrated Data Center, which manages the defense network, has 32 GPUs; military computing rooms have 55; and the Defense Communications Command’s battlefield data center, responsible for communications during wartime, has only four. The Agency for Defense Development, which researches weapon systems, owns 480 GPUs. Last year, the agency planned to acquire an additional 320 GPUs but abandoned the plan due to the lack of a suitable location. Even if more GPUs are secured, there are concerns about storage due to limited space, insufficient power supply, and inadequate cooling capacity. The Defense Integrated Data Center's first site in Yongin can accommodate up to 249 GPUs, while the second site in Gyeryong has a maximum capacity of 480 GPUs.

The military also cannot outsource GPU management to civilian cloud service providers such as Naver Cloud or Kakao. According to the National Intelligence Service’s security guidelines, GPUs for national defense purposes cannot be utilized via these services. As a result, unless a new data center is built, there is no way to store additional GPUs, rendering plans to utilize AI meaningless. Given the nature of national security, new military data centers must be constructed underground with features such as CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) protection and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) shielding. The military estimates that the related budget will exceed 2 trillion won.

Both inside and outside the military, there are calls to build large-scale centers capable of storing GPUs in bulk—similar to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to invest 2 trillion won by 2028 to build a 'National AI Computing Center' capable of housing 50,000 GPUs. On the 27th, the ministry also met with Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, and agreed to step up AI cooperation.

A military official stated, "Based on the results of a research study for new data centers, we are pushing ahead with additional center construction, and AI research will proceed through the Defense Artificial Intelligence Technology Institute within ADD."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.