Kim Jae-cheol, Honorary Chairman of Dongwon Group, has made an additional donation of 4.4 billion KRW to KAIST. Following his initial donation of 50 billion KRW in 2020, this brings his total contribution to KAIST to 54.4 billion KRW. KAIST announced on the 6th, “Honorary Chairman Kim Jae-cheol decided on the additional donation to strengthen AI education and research infrastructure.” In 2020, Chairman Kim established the ‘KAIST Kim Jaechul AI Graduate School’ with his donation and urged KAIST to reach the world’s highest level of competence in the AI field.
Upon learning that KAIST’s AI research level has recently ranked 5th in the world, Chairman Kim requested, “Please elevate your competitiveness to number one in the world” and pledged this donation. President Kwang Hyung Lee explained regarding Kim’s request, “Currently, the AI faculty at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), which is ranked first in the world, consists of 45 members. KAIST’s AI Graduate School also needs to expand its faculty from the current 20 to 50 and requires a new research building to focus on research.” To this, Chairman Kim responded willingly, saying, “I will build the facility, so don’t worry.”
KAIST plans to invest a total of 48.3 billion KRW, combining the remaining 43.9 billion KRW from the first donation with the current 4.4 billion KRW, to construct the educational research building. The new building is planned to be eight stories above ground and one basement level, with completion aimed for February 2028. Upon completion, it is expected to become a world-class AI education and research hub, hosting 50 faculty members and 1,000 students.
Chairman Kim, who spent his life striving in the sea and built a leading domestic company, expressed his donation’s purpose: “In the AI era, there will be a new future in the ‘sea of data.’ I hope Korea can leap forward as a leader in the data great navigation era by cultivating global key talents to lead the 4th Industrial Revolution era.”
In a 2022 interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, Chairman Kim also emphasized, “While the world is engaged in a competition for AI supremacy, Korea is significantly behind,” and hoped “KAIST will create new sources of growth for Korea.”