The government will provide a total of around KRW 10 trillion through the National Growth Fund to support “second megaprojects” such as next-generation bio and vaccines, sovereign artificial intelligence (AI), and the Saemangeum project. It also plans to supply more than KRW 50 trillion in funding over the next five years to strengthen the advanced industrial ecosystem.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced on the 14th that it held the “2nd Strategy Committee on the National Growth Fund” at the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul, and discussed support measures for the second megaprojects and the advanced industrial ecosystem.

The second megaprojects selected by the FSC are six areas: △ support for the construction of next-generation bio vaccine facilities and research and development (R&D) △ securing a super-gap in display organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) △ support for research, production, and mass production of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fuselages, electronic equipment, and power systems △ strengthening sovereign AI competitiveness △ large-scale local solar and onshore wind power generation △ robots, hydrogen, and renewable energy in the Saemangeum advanced belt.

The FSC plans to inject about KRW 10 trillion into the second megaprojects. To foster next-generation bio, it will support companies currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials in the form of equity investments or loans. This measure takes into account that, due to the enormous costs of global clinical trials, many companies proceed only up to Phase 2 and then transfer their technology overseas.

For display OLEDs, the FSC will support capital raising for large-scale facility investments that are difficult for individual companies to undertake alone. The sovereign AI project will be carried out to build a domestic AI ecosystem. At a background briefing held in the morning, Kang Sung-ho, Director General for the National Growth Fund at the FSC, explained, “If the ‘K-NVIDIA’ project included in the first megaprojects was centered on AI semiconductors (NPU), the project to strengthen sovereign AI competitiveness focuses on the overall value chain across the ecosystem.”

Funds will also be provided for hub-building projects in the Saemangeum advanced belt in North Jeolla Province, including robots, hydrogen, and renewable energy, where Hyundai Motor and others have recently announced large-scale investment plans. Hyundai Motor recently unveiled a blueprint to invest about KRW 9 trillion in the Saemangeum area to establish hubs for robots, AI, and hydrogen energy.

To further support the advanced industrial ecosystem, the FSC will provide KRW 50 trillion over five years, or KRW 10 trillion per year, through direct and indirect investments and loans. Of this, KRW 15 trillion will be allocated to direct investments and KRW 35 trillion to indirect (fund-based) investments.

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