Overall Growth Rate Far Exceeds in Information and Communications Sector
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[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Last year, the policy financing scale supplied to the information and communication technology (ICT) industry showed the most rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the "Innovative Growth Policy Finance Trends" report by the Korea Credit Information Services on the 3rd, among the innovative growth policy finance systems supported by 11 innovative growth policy finance institutions including KDB Industrial Bank, IBK Industrial Bank, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation, the field with the fastest increase in policy finance supply was the "Active Computing" sector. It grew approximately 45.5 times from 35.2 billion KRW in 2017 to 1.6032 trillion KRW by the end of last year. Compared to the overall ICT sector's innovative growth policy finance supply, which increased about fivefold from 1.5658 trillion KRW to 7.775 trillion KRW during the same period, this growth rate far exceeded that. Beyond the ICT sector, the increase rate of the entire ICT industry's innovative growth policy finance supply (from 4.5075 trillion KRW to 16.9089 trillion KRW, 3.8 times) was also significantly outpaced.
Active Computing refers to information processing technologies similar to the human brain for efficient processing and management of increasingly large and complex data. AI and context-aware computing are representative examples. Senior Researcher Dongchan Oh of Korea Credit Information Services stated, "Various commercialization efforts utilizing computing technology are actively underway, causing the policy finance supply scale in the Active Computing field to increase by about 100% annually," and added, "With the new government's push for future growth industries and new growth strategies, related financial support is expected to increase further."
In terms of amount, the policy finance supply in the next-generation wireless communication media field was the largest. It increased from 782 billion KRW at the end of 2017 to 2.7865 trillion KRW at the end of last year, with about 2 trillion KRW invested over five years. Senior Researcher Oh explained, "This is because the government’s strong will to secure 5G core technology and international standards, the growth of the wired and wireless convergence market leading to increased demand for smart mobile communication systems, and the expansion of overseas market entry opportunities due to the development of telecommunication linkage projects in emerging countries are expected to drive market growth."
However, its share of the total ICT sector supply decreased. It accounted for 49.9% in 2017 but dropped to 35.8% last year. Meanwhile, the share of the Active Computing field increased from 2.2% to 20.6% during the same period.
Meanwhile, in the electrical and electronics sector, the next-generation semiconductor field showed a superior increase in innovative growth policy finance supply. It rose from 1.2019 trillion KRW at the end of 2017 to 5.3779 trillion KRW at the end of last year, with more than 4 trillion KRW supplied over five years. Compared to the increase in the emotional interface (362.5 billion KRW), wearable devices (230.6 billion KRW), active lighting (280.7 billion KRW), and next-generation computing (34.9 billion KRW) within the electrical and electronics sector during the same period, this was an overwhelmingly large scale.
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