South Korea is pushing to disperse its semiconductor production base beyond the capital area, but simply moving fabs may deliver limited results, industry voices say. The government plans to allocate over 40 percent of its National Growth Fund to non-capital regions and offer special subsidies to relocating materials, parts and equipment firms. Officials also aim to build regional specialisation, but supply-chain depth, engineers’ response times, power costs and local settlement conditions are seen as decisive.

The Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT said they have launched a 2026 blockchain project to expand payment infrastructure based on deposit tokens. The project will be led by the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, with a consortium including 9 commercial banks, 8 payment service providers and 2 large demand-side firms. The 9.6 billion won project will link existing payment infrastructure with the Bank of Korea’s Project Hangang system.