Korea's tech funding nearly tripled year-on-year in the first half of 2026, but a handful of mega-rounds in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors accounted for an outsized share of the rebound, data showed Wednesday.

Tech companies in Korea raised $1.4 billion in the first six months, up 195 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Tracxn, a data intelligence platform for private market research.

Funding increased across all stages. Seed investment rose 131 percent to $127 million, while early-stage funding climbed 112 percent to $639 million. Late-stage investment recorded the sharpest increase, rising 440 percent to $621million.

But the headline figures mask a heavy concentration of capital in a small number of companies, particularly in AI-related sectors.

Rebellions, a Korean AI chipmaker, raised $400 million in a Series D round in March, while semiconductor start-up XCENA secured $135 million in Series B funding in May. Together, the two rounds accounted for about 38 percent of all Korean tech funding in the first half.

The deals helped push semiconductor funding to $456 million, up 1,421 percent from $30 million a year earlier, making it one of the strongest-performing segments of the market.

Choi Sung-jin, chief executive of Startup Growth Lab, said Korea's venture market was expanding but cautioned that the sharp increase in funding did not necessarily signal a broad recovery across the start-up ecosystem.

"Last year saw the highest level of investment since 2021, when startup investment in Korea peaked. As the amount of newly formed venture funds has continued to grow, overall investment has continued to expand through the first half of this year," Choi said.

"But given that a significant portion of the increase has been driven by large deals, particularly in AI, it would be difficult to say that funding conditions have fully recovered for younger startups or companies outside the AI sector," he said.

The concentration of investment in AI mirrors a broader global trend. In the U.S., AI-related investments accounted for roughly 30 percent of venture deals last year but between 55 and 60 percent of total investment by value, according to Choi.

"AI deals tend to be much larger in size, so they have the effect of pushing up overall investment figures," he added.

Other measures suggest Korea's venture market remains some way from a broad-based recovery.

The country recorded 10 tech initial public offerings in the first half, down 23 percent from 13 a year earlier and half the 20 recorded in the second half of 2025. No new unicorns — privately held startups valued at more than $1 billion — emerged during the period, unchanged from a year earlier.