Seven foreign companies declared $2 billion in planned investment at the Invest KOREA Summit in Seoul Wednesday, a record total for the event, with most of the investment intended for sites outside the capital region.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources described the declared amount as the largest investment declaration total in the Invest KOREA Summit’s 22 editions. The comparable total was $550 million at the 2025 summit.
For the semiconductor industry, the ministry listed Air Liquide, Amkor Technology, Tokyo Electron and Henkel. Their proposed fields cover specialty gases, chip packaging and testing, equipment, and packaging materials, respectively. It also identified Nscale with artificial intelligence data centers, Gurīn Energy with solar and onshore wind projects, and Deep Wind Offshore with offshore wind.
The ministry said most of the planned investment is intended for locations outside the Seoul metropolitan area. It also plans to designate research and development centers operated by Edwards, Valeo and IBIDEN, all outside the capital region. The designation offers qualifying personnel easier eligibility for permanent residency and gives the centers advantages in certain research programs, the ministry said.
Investment declarations signal intent; the ministry records money received under a separate measure. From January through September 2026, it reported $22.9 billion in foreign direct investment notifications and $14.9 billion in actual inflows. Those figures precede the summit.
The ministry has linked the event to regional industrial development and cited geopolitical uncertainty and higher financing costs as pressures on investment decisions. Organizers have scheduled visits to regional industrial sites for Nov. 6, the summit’s final day.
