Government Directly Invests 250 Billion Won in Rebellion for AI Chip Push

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and delivers six tailored news items for each reader type.

1. "We Don't Look at Degrees or Career History"… AX Talent Race Heats Up

- Key Summary: Krafton (259960.KS) is leading a shift in AI hiring standards by launching intensive recruitment of AI FDEs (Forward Deployed Engineers) with "no academic background or career history required." FDEs are engineers deployed to non-development teams within a company to support operational AX. The hiring target is in the double digits, starting with three-month contracts that can be extended based on performance. According to a survey by the Korean Standards Association, the most important competency companies look for in AI talent is "hands-on project and field application experience" (32.9%), followed by "communication and collaboration skills" (28.0%). An analysis of Wanted Lab data shows that salary growth rates for AI and data positions outpace other job categories after the third year, with machine learning engineers and data engineers recording annual salaries in the 70 million to 80 million won range at the 12-year mark.

2. National Growth Fund Invests 250 Billion Won in Rebellions

- Key Summary: The Financial Services Commission (FSC) approved a direct investment of 250 billion won in AI chip startup Rebellions through the National Growth Fund's fund management deliberation committee. This is the first direct investment through the National Growth Fund, structured as a purchase of redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS — shares that receive preferential dividends and can be redeemed at maturity or converted into common shares) via the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund. Korea Development Bank (KDB) is investing an additional 50 billion won, and private firms including Mirae Asset Group, Noh & Partners, IMM Investment, and Intervest are adding 300 billion won, bringing the total to 600 billion won. Rebellions is currently valued at approximately 2.7 trillion won ($2 billion) and is targeting an initial public offering (IPO) next year.

3. Megazone Cloud Partners with Check Point to Target AI Security Market

- Key Summary: Megazone Cloud has signed an agreement with Check Point Software, the world's leading internet firewall company, to provide security services specialized for AI and cloud-native environments. The two companies plan to jointly offer AI LLM model guardrails, prompt injection blocking (attacks that cause AI models to malfunction through malicious inputs), and AI red team security consulting services based on Check Point's Lakera platform. They will also build a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) framework across cloud infrastructure and operate a 24/7/365 monitoring service. Megazone Cloud's dedicated security unit, HALO, plans to use this partnership as a springboard to expand into an AI-based security operations center.

4. Meta Lays Off 700 as It Folds Metaverse Operations

- Key Summary: Meta has laid off an additional 700 employees from Reality Labs, its virtual reality (VR) and metaverse division, fully shifting its business focus to AI. Reality Labs had already cut more than 1,500 employees — 10% of its total workforce — in January this year, expanding the cumulative scale of restructuring. CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to invest at least $115 billion (approximately 173 trillion won) in AI this year and build new AI data centers, and is also considering cutting up to 20% of the company's total workforce of approximately 79,000. Meanwhile, Meta also unveiled an incentive program that would grant stock options to its six top executives if they achieve the goal of raising the company's market capitalization to $9 trillion (approximately 13,550 trillion won) by 2031.

5. Circle Boosted by AI Agent Expansion and Retreating Rate Cut Expectations

- Key Summary: Circle Internet (CRCL), the issuer of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin (price-stable cryptocurrency), is emerging as a company positioned to lead AI agent payment infrastructure. USDC circulation reached $75.3 billion (approximately 113 trillion won) in Q4 last year, up 72% year-on-year, and on-chain transaction volume surged 247% to $11.9 trillion (approximately 17,918 trillion won). Circle is operating a gateway testnet that allows AI agents to automatically move and trade USDC across blockchains without human intervention, with transaction costs of just $0.00001 per transaction. Analysts note that the longer the high interest rate environment persists, the stronger Circle's earnings resilience becomes thanks to its reserve structure centered on short-term cash-equivalent assets, making the retreat in rate cut expectations also favorable for Circle.

6. K-Telecom Equipment Goes Global… Targeting 2 Trillion Won in Exports Led by Optical Communications

- Key Summary: Korea's telecom equipment exports reached approximately 1.433 trillion won ($951.86 million) last year, up 15% year-on-year, driven by expanding AI infrastructure demand, and the industry is forecasting a further leap to the 2 trillion won level. Domestic niche companies with optical communication solutions for AI data centers — including optical transceivers and optical modules — have drawn global attention and participated in large numbers at OFC 2026, a networking exhibition held this month in Los Angeles. AT&T, the largest U.S. telecommunications carrier, unveiled a capital expenditure (CAPEX) plan of $250 billion over the next five years, which is considered a key target for Korean telecom equipment makers. As AI computing performance based on Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) rapidly increases, bandwidth demand that copper cables cannot handle is surging, driving rapid growth in demand for optical communication components.