Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister JK Kim) will hold Invest KOREA Summit 2026 (IKS), Korea’s largest foreign investment promotion event, from November 4 to 6, 2026, at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Seoul. The summit will bring together around 2,000 participants, including representatives from about 200 overseas companies visiting Korea to explore investment opportunities, as well as foreign-invested companies, the diplomatic corps and foreign chambers of commerce in Korea, local governments, and Korean and international media. 

Foreign direct investment (FDI) notifications in Korea exceeded USD 36 billion in 2025, a record high. They reached USD 22.9 billion in the first three quarters of 2026, up 10.8 percent from a year earlier, as investment momentum continued. Globally, however, investors are growing more cautious. Geopolitical uncertainty and higher financing costs are prompting companies to scrutinize actual demand and commercial viability more closely. As companies weigh investment decisions more carefully, competition among countries to attract investment is expected to intensify.

Against this backdrop, this year’s summit will focus on regional growth and AI under the slogan “M.AX KOREA: Where Next Growth Begins.” It will spotlight the new drivers of growth and business opportunities that Korea’s Five Mega-Regions and Three Special Self-Governing Provinces (5+3) growth strategy and manufacturing AI transformation (M.AX) will create across the country. A key focus will be translating Korea’s industrial and regional growth plans, including its three megaprojects in semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers, into investment by global companies.

On November 4, the opening day of the summit, seven global companies will file investment notifications totaling approximately USD 2 billion at the investment notification ceremony.  The investments focus on regional development and strategic industries. Investment outside the Seoul metropolitan area accounts for 97 percent of the total (USD 1.97 billion) and spans sectors ranging from AI infrastructure and advanced manufacturing to the clean energy that supports them.

Alongside the investment notification ceremony, three R&D centers operated by foreign-invested companies will receive official designation. The three companies are Edwards (a UK manufacturer of vacuum pumps for semiconductor production), Valeo (a French supplier of components for autonomous vehicles), and IBIDEN (a Japanese producer of graphite for semiconductor manufacturing). All three centers are located outside the Seoul metropolitan area and are expected to build regional R&D capacity and strengthen local ecosystems for advanced industries.

On the same day, the Invest KOREA Conference will open with welcome remarks by Minister for Trade Park Jung-sung. Lee Jun-ho, Senior Vice President of LG CNS, and Samir Menon, founder and CEO of U.S.-based Dexterity, will deliver keynote addresses. The two speakers will draw on their companies’ experience as leaders in the field to show how businesses are implementing AI transformation and applying physical AI in industrial operations. Representatives of foreign-invested companies will then take part in a panel discussion titled “Investment Opportunities Created by Korea’s Three Megaprojects.”

This year’s summit will also expand its regional investment promotion program. Local governments will hold briefings on local investment conditions in three industry tracks covering semiconductors and AI, biotechnology and healthcare, and future mobility, logistics, and batteries. Investors will be able to explore regional industrial capabilities and business opportunities in the sectors that interest them. On November 6, the final day of the summit, on-site investment briefings will take place in four regions (Gwangju–Jeonnam, Busan, Daegu–Gyeongbuk, and Gyeonggi-do). Participants will visit companies and industrial sites to assess potential investment locations and infrastructure firsthand.

With rising investment demand in the data center sector, Invest KOREA, the investment promotion arm of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and the Korea Data Center Council (KDCC) will hold a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on attracting foreign investment in the sector. The two organizations will hold joint investment briefings on data centers. They also plan to work with the Ministry of Science and ICT through initiatives such as the AI Data Center Alliance, launched in July 2026, to help address barriers to investment. This will include holding roundtables with foreign investors.

The inaugural K-FEZ Night will introduce investors to the investment environment in Korea’s free economic zones (FEZs) and give global companies and regional stakeholders a chance to connect at a dinner reception. The M.AX Energy Strategy Forum will explore business opportunities in offshore wind, hydrogen, energy storage systems (ESS), and other areas that can help meet the energy needs of AI and advanced industries as they grow.

Speaking at the conference, Minister for Trade Park Jung-sung said, “We will write a new chapter in Korea’s growth by bringing foreign investment into our manufacturing AI transformation (M.AX) and 5+3 growth strategy. We will focus on developing investment hubs such as M.AX clusters and RE100 industrial complexes and introducing special zones that span multiple regions and offer substantial regulatory exemptions and support with permits and approvals. We will also help foreign-invested companies in the regions recruit talent through recruitment information sessions and job fairs, and use special subsidies for growth engines to support large-scale regional investment.”