LG opens K-EXAONE 2.0 as Korea’s largest AI model

LG AI Research released K-EXAONE 2.0, a foundation model with 750 billion parameters, on the open-source platform Hugging Face. The model is more than three times larger than LG’s first model with 236 billion parameters, making it the largest AI foundation model unveiled in Korea.

K-EXAONE 2.0 scored 94.4 on the OpenAI-MRCR long-text comprehension evaluation, ahead of the 71.5 recorded by China’s Zhipu AI GLM-5.1. The model uses the Apache 2.0 open-source license, allowing free commercial use, and LG AI Research plans to unveil an industry-specialized AI model next week.

DGIST Technology Holdings formed its first investment fund of about 2 billion won to support startups founded by DGIST faculty and researchers, as well as early-stage companies in AI, robotics, semiconductors and bio-healthcare. The firm plans to connect portfolio companies with domestic VCs and TIPS while expanding the fund through policy investment programs.

China has narrowed the performance gap with the United States in top-tier AI models to 2.7% on the Arena Leaderboard, even as U.S. private AI investment reached $285.9 billion last year, 23 times China’s $12.4 billion. China is seeking to close the gap through state-led efforts, industrial robot adoption and AI doctoral talent.