The scale of this year’s public sector informatization projects is expected to increase by over 2.6 trillion Korean won compared to the previous year, centered around artificial intelligence (AI), cloud (SaaS), and information security.
This is interpreted as a reaction to the government’s active push for AI transformation in the public sector and the series of large-scale hacking incidents that occurred last year.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the final results of its survey, conducted on approximately 2,200 institutions, titled ’2026 Public Sector Software (SW)·ICT Equipment·Information Security Demand Forecast’ on the 31st.
According to the survey results, the total project budget for public sector software and ICT equipment this year amounts to 6.4737 trillion Korean won, a 4.2% (260.2 billion Korean won) increase from the previous year. The total number of projects also rose by 5.6% to 16,274.
By project type, software development accounted for 4.9681 trillion Korean won (76.7% of the total), followed by ICT equipment at 1.0776 trillion Korean won (16.7%), and commercial software and SaaS purchases at 428 billion Korean won (6.6%).
Notably, the scale of AI-related software development projects surged by 37.0% from 284.9 billion Korean won last year to 390.3 billion Korean won this year, demonstrating accelerated adoption of new technologies. Overall software development projects increased by 3.8% year-on-year.
Demand for commercial software and SaaS purchases rose by 16.3% compared to the previous year, with commercial software purchases accounting for 387.4 billion Korean won (90.5% of the total). SaaS purchase demand was set at 40.6 billion Korean won.
ICT equipment projects increased by 1.6% to 1.0776 trillion Korean won due to higher demand for network equipment purchases. The breakdown by category was computing equipment (73.5%), network equipment (23.2%), and broadcasting equipment (3.3%).
Projects involving information security amounted to 973.3 billion Korean won, a significant 22.5% increase from the previous year. This is attributed to the need for preventing security breaches and enhancing security levels.
By category, demand increased across all information security sectors: information security products (18.5%), information security services (19.0%), physical security products (79.4%), and physical security services (46.4%).
Lee Do-gyu, Director of the Information and Communications Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Demand for informatization in the public sector is rapidly increasing, centered around new technologies such as AI and cloud services.”
He added, “Based on these results, we will suggest efficient investment directions and strengthen policy foundations to ensure the growth of both private software and the information security industry.”
Originally written by: Shim Min-gwan
Source: The Chosun Daily
Published on: 31 March 2026
Link to original article: 6.5T Won Public Sector Informatization Budget: AI, Cloud, Security
