South Korea\'s second round of government support for graphics processing units has attracted five bidders, including first-round winner Naver Cloud and first-round loser Coupang, both re-entering. KT Cloud, Samsung SDS and Elice Group joined as new participants. The science ministry set evaluation criteria including economic feasibility, large scale, direct clustering, latest GPUs and service launch within the year. Officials plan evaluations and site inspections in April and May before selecting operators in May.

Viva Republica, operator of Toss, has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Korea Franchise Industry Association to promote payment innovation in the franchise sector centred on its face-recognition payment service, Facepay. The agreement was signed in Seoul on April 13. The association will support adoption among member companies, while Toss will provide payment infrastructure and technology. The two sides also plan joint promotion, initial technical support and training programmes.