Kim Yong-beom, chief of the Presidential Office's policy planning office, has raised the need to consider a "national dividend" system as a way to channel excess profits generated in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure back to society. His argument is that as competition over AI chips, power grids and data centers reshapes the very structure of the Korean economy, a new social contract is needed to ensure the fruits do not remain confined to specific companies or asset-holding classes but spread across society as a whole.
Writing on Facebook on Tuesday about the recent semiconductor boom in Korea, Kim said, "Korea no longer operates as a cyclical export economy in the traditional sense," arguing that "there is a possibility of a shift toward a structure close to a technology monopoly economy, based on structural scarcity and sustained excess profits." His view is that this is not a temporary boom driven by business cycles, but that Korea may have laid the foundation for medium- to long-term excess profits stemming from its irreplaceable position in the AI industry.
"In that case, part of those fruits must be structurally returned to all citizens," he said. "This is the legitimacy and the principle of the design." Kim gave this principle the tentative name "national dividend." As examples of the national dividend, he cited startup capital for young people, basic income for farming and fishing communities, support for artists, and strengthened old-age pensions.
While noting that "the national dividend is an empty story if excess tax revenues do not arise," Kim explained that "if excess tax revenues do arise, letting the fruits of those excess profits slip away without any principle could be the more irresponsible choice."
Kim said demand for AI chips differs from the memory cycles of the past. "Early AI investment started with expanding data centers focused on training, but demand is already moving to the next stage," he said, citing inference infrastructure, AI agents, sovereign AI, physical AI and robotics.
He particularly noted, "In an era when supply chain sovereignty becomes a key variable of national strategy, such manufacturing capabilities are closer to geopolitical leverage." He added, "The more AI infrastructure spreads globally, the greater the strategic importance of Korea's industrial ecosystem becomes."
Kim also referenced Norway's sovereign wealth fund based on oil revenues. "The situation Korea faces is different in nature, but the question is the same," he said. "How do we institutionalize structural excess profits in a social manner?"
"A rare historical possibility now lies before Korea," he said, reiterating the need to consider a national dividend. "The possibility of becoming the first country not only to supply AI infrastructure but also to return AI excess profits to human life."
