Korean manufacturers are widening their AI competition from software into machines that can perceive and act in the physical world. Hyundai Motor Group is preparing humanoid robot Atlas for factory use, while LG Electronics is working with Nvidia on infrastructure for robot-training data. Samsung Electronics, Doosan Robotics and HD Hyundai are also expanding their positions across the field.
The contest is broader than finished robots. Companies are trying to secure control over the data, chips, sensors and actuators that make industrial robots useful at scale. That turns physical AI into a supply-chain race as much as a product race, with manufacturing sites likely to become the first large testing ground.
Why the stack matters
For Korean industry, the important question is which groups can connect AI models with reliable hardware and real production data. The companies that manage that integration could capture value across several layers of the robotics ecosystem rather than relying on a single device category.