This year’s public-sector software and ICT equipment project spending rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier. The total number of projects increased 5.6 percent.

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Monday announced the results of its 2026 demand forecast for public-sector software, ICT equipment and information security.

Total public-sector spending on software and ICT equipment projects in 2026 is 6.47 trillion won. That is up 4.2 percent, or 260.2 billion won, from a year earlier. The total number of projects is 16,274, up 5.6 percent from a year earlier.

By type, software build projects account for 4.97 trillion won, or 76.7 percent. Software purchases total 428.0 billion won, or 6.6 percent. ICT equipment makes up 1.08 trillion won, or 16.7 percent. Of the total, projects that include information security components amount to 973.3 billion won, up 22.5 percent from a year earlier, the survey found.

Software build projects rose 3.8 percent from a year earlier. In particular, the scale of AI-related projects increased 37.0 percent to 390.3 billion won from 284.9 billion won last year. Operations and maintenance projects total 3.43 trillion won, accounting for the largest share at 69.1 percent of all build projects. System environment build projects came to 223.9 billion won, up 49.4 percent, the largest increase from a year earlier.

Software purchase projects are divided into commercial software purchases and software-as-a-service purchases, and demand for SaaS purchases accounts for 9.5 percent of all software purchase projects, or 40.6 billion won. ICT equipment project spending totals 1.08 trillion won, up 16.5 billion won, or 1.6 percent, from a year earlier. Demand for purchases of network equipment such as routers and storage rose, the survey found.

Information security-related demand in public-sector software and ICT equipment projects rose to 973.3 billion won this year from 794.8 billion won last year, up 22.5 percent, or 178.5 billion won. The ministry said it assessed the increase as stemming from the need to strengthen security levels, including to prevent cyber incidents and due to AX transitions.

By category, demand increased for products across the information protection field: information security products at 18.5 percent, information security services at 19.0 percent, physical security products at 79.4 percent and physical security services at 46.4 percent.

Lee Do-gyu (이도규), director general for ICT policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Based on the results of this demand forecast, we will present directions for efficient investment in the public sector." He added, "We will continue to strengthen the policy foundation so that this increase in demand can lead to joint growth of the private software, ICT and information security industries."

Detailed information on the 2026 demand forecast for public-sector software, ICT equipment and information security can be found on the Software Industry Information System.