The Financial Services Commission will support about 10 trillion won from the Public Growth Fund for the "second megaprojects," including next-generation bio vaccines, sovereign artificial intelligence (AI), and the Saemangeum projects. It will also supply a total of 50 trillion won plus alpha (@) over the next five years to strengthen support for the advanced industry ecosystem.
The Financial Services Commission said on the 14th that it held the second strategy committee of the Public Growth Fund at the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) in Jung District, Seoul, and discussed support plans for the second megaprojects and the advanced industry ecosystem.
The second megaprojects selected by the Financial Services Commission are: ▲ building next-generation bio vaccine facilities and supporting research and development (R&D) ▲ securing a super-gap in display organic light-emitting diode (OLED) ▲ supporting research, manufacturing, and mass production of unmanned aerial vehicle fuselages, electronic equipment, and power systems ▲ strengthening competitiveness in sovereign AI (securing sovereignty over AI technology) ▲ large-scale local solar and onshore wind power generation ▲ robots, hydrogen, and renewable energy in the Saemangeum advanced belt.
The Financial Services Commission plans to invest about 10 trillion won in the second megaprojects. To foster next-generation bio, it will provide direct investment and loans to corporations in phase 3 clinical trials. It took into account that, because global clinical trials require massive expense, many corporations proceed only to phase 2 and then transfer their technology overseas.
It will also fund hub-building projects for robots, hydrogen, and renewable energy in the Saemangeum advanced belt in North Jeolla, for which Hyundai Motor and others recently released large-scale investment plans. Hyundai Motor recently unveiled a blueprint to invest about 9 trillion won in the Saemangeum area to establish hubs for robots, AI, and hydrogen energy.
For display OLEDs, it will support financing for large-scale facility investments that are difficult for individual corporations to pursue alone. Investment will proceed to build an ecosystem for sovereign AI. A Financial Services Commission official said, "If the 'K-Nvidia' project included in the first megaprojects focused on AI semiconductor (NPU), the project to strengthen sovereign AI competitiveness will focus on the ecosystem's all-around value chain."
To strengthen support for the advanced industry ecosystem, the Financial Services Commission will provide 50 trillion won + @ over five years, at 10 trillion won per year, through direct and indirect investment and loans. Of that, 15 trillion won will be direct investment and 35 trillion won will be indirect investment (fund model).
Specifically, the 35 trillion won public-private joint fund will be subdivided into more than 20 sub-funds for operation. It will support areas not attempted by past policy funds to foster the advanced industry ecosystem and core strategic technologies. It will newly create a scale-up dedicated fund capable of investing several tens of billions of won per deal and a fund capable of ultra-long-term technology investment of more than 10 years. Through this, it decided to resolve the "investment blind spots."
It will create a region-dedicated fund each year of at least 200 billion won that is obligated to invest 60% or more in local corporations, strengthening support for the local advanced industry ecosystem.
It will also improve the method of selecting asset managers. It plans to select managers who can drive fundamental value gains at the corporations receiving investment. Even after investment, it will favor managers with experience achieving fundamental value gains at investee corporations and will review records such as additional growth-capital injections after initial investment during evaluations. It will leverage fresh investment perspectives and networks by providing management opportunities even to managers that have never received policy funds. It will operate a growth-corporation discovery council with private-sector experts to identify promising corporations.
Support for small and medium-sized and mid-sized corporations using low-interest loans will also be expanded. Previously, Samsung Electronics borrowed 250 billion won from the Public Growth Fund and activated a 20 billion won special guarantee program, deciding to return the benefit by enabling partners to borrow at lower interest rates. The Financial Services Commission decided to continue spreading this best-practice approach.
A Financial Services Commission official said, "We will also supply necessary funds in a timely manner for projects not included in the megaprojects, in line with on-site demand."