The South Korean government will commercialize humanoid robots specialized for 10 key industries in 2028. The goal is to develop a world-class proprietary physical artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model within the next three years. Daegu and North Gyeongsang will serve as the main hub for field testing, while North Jeolla will be the center for foundry operations. Companies are also making large-scale investments, including 60 trillion won from Samsung Group.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan announced the physical AI development strategy, centered on these contents, at the "Korea Great Leap Three Mega-Projects National Briefing" held at the Blue House on Wednesday, presided over by President Lee Jae-myung.
"The next three years are the golden time to become the No. 1 power in physical AI," Deputy Prime Minister Bae said. "The government will designate physical AI as a national strategic industry and lead it." Minister Kim pledged to "raise Korea's share of the global humanoid robot market, which stood at about 1% last year, to 20%," and to nurture more than 30 specialized AI robot companies.
Targeting commercialization in 2028, the government will develop humanoids specialized for 10 industries, including display, shipbuilding, home appliances, chemicals, logistics, hospitals and hotels. It plans to expand robot production infrastructure around two main axes: the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region and Saemangeum. In the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region, a robot test field will be built where industrial robots linked to the automotive, shipbuilding or electronics industries can be field-tested. The government will also support local automotive parts makers in transitioning to the robotics sector. In the Saemangeum area, a robot foundry (contract manufacturing) plant and a parts cluster will be established.
Companies also announced investment plans. Jay Y. Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), said, "We will concentrate robot-related investment in Gumi, North Gyeongsang." Samsung plans to invest a total of 60 trillion won in the Yeongnam region to strengthen its role as an industrial engine by integrating AI transformation (AX) and robot transformation (RX) into its core manufacturing. In Gumi, which Lee mentioned directly, Samsung will build a mother factory to serve as an innovation hub for global smartphone manufacturing by Samsung Electronics, along with mass production lines for physical AI and humanoid robots, while Samsung SDS plans to build an AI data center. In Busan, Samsung Electro-Mechanics will lead an expansion of investment in a leading base for next-generation information technology (IT) devices and automotive multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), as well as cutting-edge package substrate production. In Ulsan, Samsung SDI will increase investment in next-generation solid-state batteries and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
An institutional foundation is also being established for corporate investment to serve as a catalyst for growth. The government's plan is to deploy 1,000 AI robots to the field annually going forward, creating domestic demand and developing them into export products. "The government will first proactively purchase robots in various demand areas such as education, defense and disaster response," Minister Kim declared. "On that foundation, we will expand the production base centered on the regions."
The government is also accelerating the localization of robot technology. It will expand research and development (R&D) investment in three vulnerable components: actuators, robot hands and sensors. In addition, it plans to train 10,000 specialized AI robot personnel over five years through the selection of robotics-specialized graduate schools.
The key going forward is securing data. "While generative AI has secured data amounting to 100,000 years, physical AI is at the level of just 10,000 hours, which is woefully insufficient," Deputy Prime Minister Bae stressed. "It is important to secure as much field data as possible while building purpose-fit virtual simulation environments to generate synthetic data." Accordingly, the government plans to establish data factories for each of the 10 industries to secure the training data needed for AI robot learning.
In this regard, Eom Yoon-seol, CEO of Airobot, suggested, "What physical AI companies need most is raw data (data before processing). If a policy is pursued that allows workers at manufacturing sites to sell work data filmed with body cameras to demand institutions, it could also help establish data standards." President Lee praised the idea, saying, "The suggestion is to create opportunities to sell data, and as a source of work, it seems to be an excellent idea."
