Foreign Investment in IT Sector Skyrocketed 2,793 Pct in April

Korea Times 2000/05/30

Foreign investment in the domestic information technology (IT) sector surged a whopping 2,793.4 percent to $565 million in April from just $19 million in the same month a year earlier.

The foreign investment in the IT industry took up 56.4 percent of total investment of $1 billion in the country by non-Koreans.

The Ministry of Information and Communication said yesterday that foreign investment in IT equipment reached $387.9 million, $125.9 million in software and $51.2 million in services last month, up from $9.9 million in IT equipment and $8.7 million in software a year earlier.

Foreign investment in IT reached $1.75 billion in the first four months this year, up 535.3 percent from $275.9 million in the same period last year.

The sharp increase in the investment in the IT industry helped raise the total foreign investment in the country for the first four months to $1.752 billion, up 535.3 percent from $275.8 million a year earlier.

A ministry official cited as the main reasons for the increased foreign investment Korea's competitiveness in the information field, its huge market and bright prospect for export.

He also said that hitherto investment by foreigners concentrated on small and medium equipment manufacturers.

``Should the foreign investors focus on big firms like SK Telecom, the amount of investment would go up sharply,'' he said.