On January 29, 2026, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) unveiled a strategic roadmap to foster the quantum industry, aiming to make the country the world’s top quantum chip producer by 2035. According to reports citing Yonhap news agency, the plan includes fostering 10,000 experts, nurturing 2,000 quantum businesses, and designating five “quantum clusters” by July 2026 to lead national quantum transformation.
Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon described quantum technology as “a formidable innovation that will determine a nation’s competitiveness in the post-AI era” and said the government would “mobilize all national capabilities across industry, academia, research institutions, and the public sector.” The roadmap is described as South Korea’s first comprehensive strategic roadmap for quantum technology and runs through 2035.
Major South Korean firms, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and SK Telecom, launched a quantum technology consultative body to discuss cooperation alongside the roadmap announcement. The government backed the effort with a 2026 R&D budget of approximately $5.6 billion for science and ICT, a 25.4 percent increase from the previous year, with quantum science identified among priority future technology areas.
The roadmap builds on the Quantum Act passed in 2024, which established a governance framework and required continuous investment and long-term planning for quantum research and industry. South Korea’s quantum technology budget has grown from $140 million in 2024 to over $250 million in 2025.