Export-Import Bank Provides KRW 2.3 Trillion in Support for Semiconductors and Data Centers

AX Special Program
KRW 22 Trillion Planned over Five Years
Supporting LG Electronics' Cooling Solutions and Megazone Cloud
Pursuing Development of GPU-Specialized Financial Model

The Export-Import Bank of Korea provided KRW 2.3 trillion this year to support the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, including semiconductors and data centers. Through its 'AX (AI Transition) Special Program,' which targets all segments of the AI industry, the bank supplies funding and plans to expand financial support tailored to the unique characteristics of the data center sector, which requires large-scale capital investments.

According to the Export-Import Bank of Korea on September 26, the cumulative support delivered through the AX Special Program totaled KRW 2.3 trillion as of the end of August. Since announcing a five-year plan in January to supply a total of KRW 22 trillion, the bank has continued financial support for AI-related industries such as semiconductors and digital infrastructure.

The range of eligible recipients encompasses the entire AI industry—from infrastructure such as semiconductors, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and data centers, to application stages like large language model (LLM) development, AI solutions, robots, and AI factory construction. The overall support plan consists of KRW 20 trillion in loans and guarantees and KRW 2 trillion in investments. For AI semiconductors and model/solution sectors, where startups play a central role, investment-based support is also provided in parallel.

One major support example is LG Electronics’ export project for AI data center cooling solutions. In March, the bank signed a financial business agreement with LG Electronics to provide a customized financing package of KRW 300 billion for this project and others. Preferential interest rates from the AX Special Program are applied, and favorable financial terms will also be extended to small and medium-sized partners that enter overseas markets jointly with LG Electronics or supply equipment.

The bank also invested in a cloud company. In the first half of this year, through its project fund, the bank made an indirect investment of KRW 20 billion in Megazone Cloud. This demonstrates that it supplies funds not only to companies exporting data center-related equipment but also to those offering cloud services.

The bank plans to diversify its financial support to address the high levels of capital expenditure inherent in the data center industry. As the market shifts toward hyper-scale integrated centers, project finance (PF) support will be expanded and a specialized financial model for graphics processing units (GPUs) will be developed. Through investments and tailored financing, the bank aims to help Korean companies secure competitiveness in the global digital infrastructure market.

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