Incheon's Proven Special R&D Zone to Get 20 Billion Won Boost

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

1. Incheon Restarts Environmental Technology 'Industrialization Engine'

- Key Summary: Incheon was selected in a comprehensive evaluation by the Ministry of Science and ICT as a recipient of second-phase support for the Seohae Geomdan Special Research and Development Zone, investing 20 billion won, including 10 billion won in state funding, from 2027 to 2032. Over the four years of the first phase, it spun off 36 research institute companies, achieved 109 technology transfers, and produced 75 startups, reaching 124%, 133%, and 192% of its respective targets. In addition, investment-linked funding drew 23.8 billion won, more than four times the 5.7 billion won target, while 445 jobs and 36.7 billion won in sales also exceeded targets. The second phase will support the entire cycle from prototype development to mass production and export through on-site demonstrations and regulatory sandboxes, and it plans to operate bases in eight overseas countries, including Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

2. Autonomous Driving Startups in Gwangju Struggle Amid GPU Cliff

- Key Summary: Ahead of the government's autonomous driving demonstration project in Gwangju, RideFlux and Autonomous a2z are having difficulty securing high-performance in-vehicle AI chips. Nvidia's latest autonomous driving chip "Thor" is supplied mainly to large companies under policy, and the two startups are still manufacturing components with the previous-generation chip "Orin." In contrast, Hyundai Motor, which is participating in the same project, is reported to have already secured hundreds of Thor units. In addition, data center GPUs for training AI models are also in short supply, and some startups are even mobilizing personal graphics cards for development. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to provide 100 units each of the previous-generation H100 GPU in October.

3. "If China AI Is Blocked, Only We Die": U.S. Startups Appeal to Trump

- Key Summary: The "Little Tech Coalition," a group of about 200 U.S. startups and venture capital firms, sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arguing that access to Chinese open-weight AI models should be maintained. The move comes as many U.S. startups use cheaper Chinese AI models such as Moonshot AI, Alibaba, and DeepSeek due to cost burdens. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang opposed regulation, saying that Chinese AI is unlikely to push out U.S. companies, but Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, raised suspicions of unauthorized technology distillation by Chinese AI companies and signaled the possibility of a hardline response. The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating whether the Chinese AI company Moonshot AI used advanced U.S.-made semiconductors.

4. BOK to "Raise Loan Limits for Regional SMEs"...Overhauls 30 Trillion Won Intermediary Lending System

- Key Summary: The Bank of Korea is overhauling its Bank Intermediated Lending Support Facility from a method that supports specific industries to one that flexibly lends to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overall. It will maintain the current total limit of 30 trillion won but newly introduce an SME credit-linked support program in the second half of next year, and it plans to assign higher weights to low-credit, unsecured, and short-operating-history companies. In addition, the regional SME support program limit, which had been fixed at 5.9 trillion won since 2014, will be increased starting in the first half of next year, while the trade finance support and new growth and job support programs will be gradually reduced and abolished. Choi Chang-ho, director general of the BOK's Monetary Policy Department, explained that the overhaul is aimed at increasing overall flexibility and promoting macroeconomic stability.

5. ServiceNow's Q2 Revenue and EPS Both Beat Market Expectations

- Key Summary: ServiceNow, an enterprise cloud software company, posted second-quarter revenue of $3.99 billion (about 5.8577 trillion won) and adjusted earnings per share of $0.90, both exceeding market consensus. Current remaining performance obligations (cRPO), a future revenue indicator, rose 21% year-on-year to $13.2 billion, and the company also raised its annual subscription revenue guidance. In addition, annual contract value for AI solutions surpassed $1 billion, and the number of customers with annual contract value of $5 million or more reached 658, up 23% from a year earlier. However, some assessed the results as somewhat disappointing, as the upward revision to annual guidance was not large relative to the second-quarter performance.

6. "AI Demand Is Strong"...Google to Pour 300 Trillion Won This Year

- Key Summary: Alphabet, Google's parent company, raised its capital expenditure forecast for this year to $195 billion-$205 billion (about 285.98 trillion-300.61 trillion won). Second-quarter revenue rose 24% year-on-year to $119.8 billion, while cloud revenue surged 82% to $24.77 billion, far exceeding expectations. Meanwhile, cloud order backlog grew from $460 billion in the first quarter to $514 billion, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said he confirmed strong AI demand. However, Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion for the first time since its listing, and OpenAI has also decided to increase AI computing spending to $750 billion by 2030, intensifying the investment competition among big tech firms.