▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Surging GPU costs: Demand for artificial intelligence computing has climbed sharply, prompting domestic cloud providers to raise graphics processing unit rental rates following similar moves by U.S. neocloud companies. Unlike the past, when rental rates for older products fell as new ones arrived, prices for previous-generation GPUs are rising as well, making the ability to secure computing resources a decisive factor in the success of AI businesses and research.
■ AI regulation debate: As calls grow within the U.S. technology industry to slow AI development and tighten safety rules, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has emerged as a leading voice for accelerating development. Huang laid out that position in a publicly aired phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, standing in clear contrast to the go-slow arguments of major model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
■ SoftBank borrowing: SoftBank Group is moving to issue the largest speculative-grade bond, or junk bond, offering ever by a single company to fund its investment in OpenAI. Analysts say the pattern of concentrated investment in OpenAI is hardening, with the company repeatedly expanding margin loan limits and issuing bonds even as rising U.S. Treasury yields push up borrowing costs.
[News of Interest to Corporate CEOs]
1. [Exclusive] Rental Rates for Older Chips Up 25% — Is an AI Computing Cost Tsunami Coming?
- Key summary: Vessl AI, a domestic neocloud company, raised the hourly rate for Nvidia H100 chips on its VESSL Cloud service to $2.98 from $2.39 on the 1st of this month, a 24.7% increase. The price adjustment marks the start of similar moves in Korea after U.S. neocloud firms including CoreWeave and Nebius successively raised GPU rental rates. Vessl AI procures most of its roughly 7,000 GPUs through leasing. According to Ornn, an AI computing trading platform, the hourly cloud rental rate for the H100 rose 21.9% over the past month to $3.28 from $2.69, reaching about 70% of the price of the higher-end H200. The impact is spreading to industry and research, with some companies abandoning bids for government-led AI transformation projects because they could not secure GPUs, while universities and research institutes scale back the size of their research.
2. Jensen Huang Aligns With Trump, Emerging as Key Ally in AI Regulation Fight
- Key summary: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is emerging as a leading advocate of accelerating AI development in opposition to calls for tighter safety regulation, CNBC reported on the 20th. At the All-In Summit held in Los Angeles on the 14th, Huang put a call from Trump on speakerphone, and during the roughly five-minute conversation Trump criticized what he called excessive alarm over risks and likened data centers to oil, which he said would drive the economy for the next 20 to 25 years. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, by contrast, has called for independent safety evaluations by outside bodies and stronger government oversight, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk have also agreed on the need for some degree of restraint, splitting the field into camps. Separately, Reuters reported that Huang is scheduled to attend a state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on the 24th.
3. Borrowing to Go All In on OpenAI — SoftBank to Issue 15 Trillion Won in Junk Bonds
- Key summary: SoftBank Group will issue 15.3 trillion won in junk bonds to raise funds for its investment in OpenAI, Bloomberg reported on the 21st. The offering, consisting of $10 billion (about 13.83 trillion won) and 1 billion euros (about 1.59 trillion won), is expected to be the largest speculative-grade bond sale ever by a single company, excluding distressed debt exchanges. The proceeds will first be used for the $10 billion third tranche of follow-on investment in OpenAI, which must be paid by Oct. 1. SoftBank has continued to borrow, having earlier raised the limit on a margin loan backed by Arm shares to $25 billion from $5 billion. Borrowing costs are mounting, however, with the yield on its dollar bonds maturing in 2031 climbing to 8.2% this month from a low of 6.7% in January.
[Reference News for Corporate CEOs]
4. Monthly Reporting to Management Required for Telecom and Power Data Access Logs
- Key summary: The government is strengthening security assessments of major telecommunications infrastructure, including telecom carriers, state-run energy and financial enterprises and national agencies. The Ministry of Science and ICT recently issued a public notice of proposed rules partially amending the standards for analyzing and assessing vulnerabilities in major telecommunications infrastructure, creating a data management category with 15 new items. Under the changes, each company and institution must establish criteria for reviewing access logs for critical data, conduct checks at least once a month and report to its chief information security officer, while monitoring unauthorized access in real time and carrying out follow-up measures promptly. Whether additional authentication such as a one-time password generator is applied to database access will also be subject to review, further increasing the data management burden on companies.
5. "Yongin Fab Is About to Start Up, but Roads and Water Supply Are Lacking"
- Key summary: The Federation of Korean Industries said on the 21st that it had submitted 41 policy recommendations for national strategic advanced industries — covering semiconductors, displays, batteries, biotechnology and robotics — to the Regulatory Rationalization Committee and the National Assembly. The federation voiced concern that while semiconductor plant investments of more than 1,000 trillion won in Yongin and 800 trillion won in the Jeonnam-Gwangju area are under way, the buildout of essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply and power could lag. In particular, traffic volume is expected to surge once SK hynix's (000660) first Yongin fab begins operating in February next year, but the main access road is unlikely to be completed before then. The federation also asked for a special provision for advanced-industry infrastructure in private investment procedures to shorten the period before groundbreaking to within 18 months, and for changes allowing companies running losses from large initial investments to make use of tax credits.
6. Hanwha (000880) Teams With Smaller Firms to Build a K-Drone Ecosystem, Eyes Joint Overseas Push
- Key summary: Hanwha Aerospace (012450) held a cooperation signing ceremony at its Changwon No. 1 plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on the 21st, signing memorandums of understanding with 43 domestic companies involved in unmanned aerial vehicles. The plan is to build a cooperative framework spanning development, production and export across all areas, including airframes, parts and materials, and mission equipment, with the business divided between large unmanned aircraft and small and mid-sized military drones. In the large unmanned aircraft segment, Hanwha Aerospace is jointly developing the Mojave STOL short takeoff and landing aircraft with GA-ASI of the United States, and plans to raise the share of domestic production above 70% at the mass production stage. The company also intends to broaden export opportunities for smaller firms by offering overseas markets packages that combine domestically made small and mid-sized drones with existing mainstay ground weapons systems such as the K9 self-propelled howitzer and the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher.
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