Foreign Startups Hit Record High; Korea Expands GSC Beyond Capital Region

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. "Compare More Than 40 Robots at a Glance… 'Marosol' Enables Adoption Within a Month"

- Key Summary: Big Wave Robotics operates two core services: 'Marosol,' a platform connecting robot demand companies with suppliers, and 'SOLlink,' which integrates and controls robots from multiple manufacturers. Its key competitive edge is enabling robot adoption decisions within a month through Marosol—a process that previously took six months to two years. Companies that have adopted SOLlink show a repurchase rate of 55%, and the company turned profitable last year with revenue of 20.7 billion won and operating profit of 700 million won. Having passed the KOSDAQ preliminary listing review, Big Wave Robotics plans to use the 44 billion won raised through this offering for U.S. expansion and humanoid business.

2. 'Foreign Startup Support' Expands Beyond Capital Region… Cultivating Local Ventures

- Key Summary: The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will establish additional Global Startup Centers (GSC) outside the capital region in the second half of this year. Since opening at Seoul TIPS Town in July 2024, GSC has recorded 16,336 cumulative users through April this year, supporting 82 corporate establishments and 77 visa acquisitions. The number of foreign residents holding technology startup visas (D-8-4) and similar permits hit a record high, rising from 191 in 2021 to 594 in April this year. Meanwhile, the Startup Korea Special Visa, newly created by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Justice in 2024, eliminates quantitative requirements and evaluates business viability and innovation, but field complaints have been raised about its dual review procedures and multiple administrative steps.

3. POSCO DX (022100) and NC (036570) Push to Develop AI Industrial Robot Control Model

- Key Summary: POSCO DX and NC AI will jointly develop a Robot Foundation Model (RFM) to operate robots for high-risk, high-intensity industrial work. POSCO DX will handle robot motion design, control simulation, and the construction of digital twin-based virtual testing environments, while NC AI will develop the AI model using a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) approach. Once the RFM is applied, robots will be able to simultaneously understand visual information and verbal instructions, autonomously interpreting and judging work situations and handling unstructured tasks that were difficult to address with conventional rule-based control. Through this, the partners aim to lead the global general-purpose physical AI ecosystem with goals of replacing dangerous work and improving safety, precision, and efficiency at manufacturing sites.

4. China-Only Clinical Trial Results Featured in Major ASCO Research for First Time

- Key Summary: 'Ivonescimab,' a lung cancer treatment from China's Akeso, was selected as one of the top five major research presentations at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This marks the first time results from a China-only clinical trial have been chosen as a key ASCO presentation. Ivonescimab, which works through a bispecific antibody mechanism, has had its global rights secured by U.S.-based Summit Therapeutics, which has submitted it to the FDA, with an approval decision expected by November. Chinese biotech firms signed a record $60 billion (approximately 90 trillion won) in overseas licensing deals with multinational pharmaceutical companies in the first quarter, a 73% jump year-on-year. The Chinese government, in this year's government work report, designated the pharmaceutical sector as an "emerging pillar industry" for the first time. Meanwhile, the U.S. is showing strong vigilance against China's biotech rise by signing the 'BIOSECURE Act' and launching an investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).

5. China's Real Competitive Edge Is Speed

- Key Summary: Rather than waiting for technological completion, China is building industrial competitiveness by having the state lift regulations and inject capital to push forward results. In the battery sector, CATL has focused investment on LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries based on the Chinese government's electric vehicle subsidies and R&D tax benefits, currently holding 42% of the global battery market. Last month it unveiled a battery capable of 1,500 km of driving range with a six-minute charge. In semiconductors, Huawei has declared "Tao's Law (τ)," which reduces signal transmission time, instead of "Moore's Law" that has dominated the semiconductor industry for 60 years, taking on the U.S. equipment embargo. By contrast, Korea's competitive weaknesses are pointed to as institutions slower than the speed of technology and policies that change drastically with each administration.

6. TSMC and Partners 30 Minutes Apart on Foot… "Problems Solved in Half a Day"

- Key Summary: Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park concentrates approximately 900 semiconductor companies, institutions, and universities, along with about 170,000 workers, on a 15-square-kilometer (approximately 4.54 million pyeong) site. The entire semiconductor supply chain—including foundry (contract chip manufacturing), fabless (chip design specialists), packaging, and materials, parts, and equipment—is built within a 30-minute walk from TSMC to MediaTek and National Tsing Hua University. Lin Yi-bing, chair professor at China Medical University, cited the cluster ecosystem and the symbiotic relationship between companies and universities, rather than large corporations alone, as the source of Taiwan's semiconductor competitiveness. Taiwan's economic growth forecast for this year is 9.6%, far exceeding Korea's (2.6%), and global Big Tech investment courtship continues, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang deciding to increase Taiwan investment to $150 billion annually.