Government to Invest 1.291 Trillion Won in Materials and Components R&D, Up 9.6% from Last Year

470.6 Billion Won Invested in Advanced Industries Such as Semiconductors and Secondary Batteries
Full-Fledged Support for High Value-Added Steel and Petrochemicals and AI-Based Materials Development

Yonhap News Agency

The government will invest a total of 1.291 trillion won this year in materials and components technology development, an increase of 9.6% from the previous year’s 1.178 trillion won.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on February 10 that it has issued a notice for the “2026 Materials and Components Technology Development Project” and will allocate 1.1704 trillion won to ongoing projects and 120.6 billion won to new projects.

By sector, it will invest a total of 470.6 billion won in the development of materials and components for advanced strategic industries, including 145.4 billion won for semiconductors, 88.3 billion won for displays, 125.7 billion won for secondary batteries, and 111.2 billion won for bio. In addition, it will provide a total of 820.4 billion won in support for materials development aimed at boosting the added value and eco-friendly competitiveness of key industries — including 308.5 billion won for machinery and metals, 90.2 billion won for automobiles, and 147 billion won for chemicals — as well as for securing leadership in future promising industries, including 69.4 billion won for space and aviation and 24.5 billion won for hydrogen.

Through this new project announcement, the ministry plans to focus on three areas: shifting the steel and petrochemical industries toward higher added value; responding to supply chain issues in advanced industries; and supporting the linkage between materials research and development and artificial intelligence (AI).

First, to promote higher added value in the steel and petrochemical industries, the government will newly support 30 projects with 22 billion won. In the steel sector, it will support the development of high value-added special carbon steels, such as ultra-corrosion-resistant steel pipe materials for ultra-deep drilling environments. In the petrochemical sector, it will support the development of specialty chemical materials, such as ultra-high-purity, ultra-thin polypropylene films for small electronic components.

To respond to supply chain challenges in advanced industries, the government will newly invest 42.75 billion won in 65 projects. Key targets of support include ultra-high-purity copper materials for AI semiconductors, glass substrate materials and components for physical AI devices, and technologies for refining rare metals using smelting by-products.

In addition, to promote the use of AI in materials development, the government will, for the first time, introduce “AI-linked materials projects” that are connected to the virtual engineering platform of the Materials and Components Infrastructure Construction Project. Through this, it aims to spread digital materials development methods and accelerate development speed by supporting AI-based property prediction, structural optimization, virtual design, and simulation at the R&D stage. The virtual engineering platform is an AI-based materials development model built on materials data from public research institutes.

The ministry plans to select the organizations that will carry out the newly announced projects by April, and to select investment-linked projects by June. Detailed information on the technology development tasks and application forms can be found on the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology’s R&D Digital Platform and the Integrated Research Information System (IRIS) for pan-ministerial research support.

Song Hyunju, Director-General for Industrial Supply Chain Policy at the ministry, said, “The materials, parts, and equipment industry is a core sector that underpins our national economic security. We will provide seamless support for R&D aimed at increasing the added value of steel and petrochemical materials, and we will expand the convergence of AI into materials R&D to further enhance the innovation capabilities of materials companies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.