Amid ongoing uncertainties regarding U.S. tariffs, the investment sentiment among mid-sized enterprises has shown signs of recovery in the second half of the year.
According to the '2025 Second Half Investment Outlook Survey' released by the Federation of Middle Market Enterprises of Korea (FDMEK) on the 15th, 37.2% of mid-sized enterprises reported having investment plans for the second half of the year, marking a 12.2 percentage point increase compared to the same period last year (25%). The survey was conducted from May 26 to June 10, 2025, targeting 800 mid-sized enterprises.
Mid-sized enterprises with investment plans reported that they would primarily focus on domestic facility investments (69.5%), domestic research and development (R&D) investments (40.3%), and overseas investments (17.4%). Specifically, investments are expected to be made in areas such as existing facility renovation and repair (36.2%), R&D (20.5%), new and additional factory construction (18.8%), eco-friendly and ESG initiatives (6.7%), mergers and acquisitions (6.0%), and digital transformation (5.1%).
They anticipate that the investment scale will be similar to or expanded compared to the first half of the year. Among mid-sized enterprises with investment plans for the second half, 79.9% expect their investment scale to be expanded (39.3%) or maintained (40.6%) compared to the first half. They cited reasons such as sluggish domestic market conditions (35.0%), concerns about economic deterioration (31.7%), increased production costs (11.7%), and high interest rates and funding difficulties (10.0%).
The method of securing investment funding is predominantly through internal funds (49.6%), followed by borrowing from financial institutions (39.6%), issuing stocks and corporate bonds (5.8%), and utilizing policy finance (5.0%).
However, 62.8% of mid-sized enterprises reported that they do not have investment plans for the second half. The main reasons cited include uncertain market conditions (38.0%), unnecessary investments in certain sectors (25.5%), deteriorating business performance (19.3%), completion of prior investments (12.4%), and failure to secure new investment opportunities (3.6%).
Mid-sized enterprise representatives noted that policy support is needed to revitalize investment, including improvements in tax incentives for R&D and facility investments (37.1%), price stabilization and boosting domestic demand (22.0%), interest rate reductions (17.9%), improvements in the business environment, including labor (10.0%), expansion of policy finance (9.0%), and easing of investment regulations such as location restrictions (3.8%).