Samsung Taps Hyundai Veteran to Lead New Robotics Push

Seoul Builds a Robotics War Room

Samsung announced the creation of RX, a standalone division dedicated to robotics projects, with CEO TM Roh directly overseeing operations. The move positions the Korean conglomerate alongside a growing roster of tech majors betting that the next frontier of AI won't be confined to screens.

Dongkun Lee, who joined Samsung in May as Executive Vice President, will steer the division's strategy. Lee spent years shaping Hyundai's robotics roadmap, including oversight of Boston Dynamics during the automaker's stewardship of the humanoid and quadruped robot maker. His appointment signals Samsung's intent to move beyond prototypes and into serious product development.

At DailyTechWire, we've tracked the accelerating convergence of AI inference models and physical form factors across Seoul, Shenzhen, and Mountain View. The formation of RX marks Samsung's clearest commitment yet to compete in a space where software intelligence meets mechanical execution, a domain that demands deep integration of computer vision, motor control, and edge processing.

A Multi-Region R&D Bet

RX will anchor its operations in Samsung's Seoul facilities, but the company plans to establish research hubs in the United States, China, and Japan. The distributed structure reflects a pragmatic approach: robotics talent is fragmented across geographies, and building local centers allows Samsung to recruit specialists in manipulation algorithms, sensor fusion, and manufacturing automation without requiring relocation to Korea.

This mirrors strategies employed by Hyundai and other Asian industrials that have acquired or built robotics capabilities abroad. The difference here is scale. Samsung's semiconductor and display manufacturing expertise gives it vertical integration advantages that pure-play robotics startups lack. The company can design custom chips for real-time inference, prototype actuators in-house, and leverage existing supply chains for mass production.

The Physical AI Arms Race

Samsung's timing aligns with a broader industry inflection. Hyundai recently completed its acquisition of the remaining stake in Boston Dynamics, consolidating control as it explores humanoid applications in logistics and manufacturing. Alphabet folded its standalone robotics venture into Google earlier this year, signaling a shift from moonshot experimentation to product-focused development. OpenAI is reportedly prototyping hardware devices that extend ChatGPT's conversational interface into physical interactions, with early designs centered on voice-enabled speakers and potentially mobile assistants.

The common thread: companies with advanced large language models and vision systems are now racing to pair those capabilities with bodies. The hypothesis is that embodied AI, robots that can navigate unstructured environments and manipulate objects, will unlock markets far larger than software alone. Warehouses, elder care, hospitality, and home assistance represent trillions in potential revenue, but only if the hardware can achieve reliability and cost targets that have eluded earlier generations of robotics.

Samsung's entry raises the stakes. The company ships hundreds of millions of consumer devices annually and operates some of the world's most automated fabs. If it can translate that operational knowledge into robotics, the cost curve for humanoid and service robots could compress faster than analysts expect.

Humanoids on the Factory Floor

Samsung intends to begin manufacturing humanoid robots before the end of this year, according to company statements. Roh has committed 19 trillion Korean won, approximately $13 billion, to develop production facilities at Samsung's Gumi site in Korea. The investment dwarfs most venture-backed robotics startups and positions Samsung to scale output rapidly if early designs prove viable.

The Gumi campus already produces semiconductors and displays. Adding robotics lines there creates opportunities for tight feedback loops between component design and system integration. Engineers can iterate on motor drivers, battery packs, and sensor modules in the same complex where final assembly occurs, reducing time-to-market and enabling hardware-software co-optimization that remote partnerships struggle to achieve.

The humanoid form factor remains controversial in robotics circles. Critics argue that wheeled or specialized designs are more efficient for most tasks. Proponents counter that human environments, from staircases to door handles, are designed for bipedal navigation, making humanoids the most versatile option for general-purpose deployment. Samsung's bet suggests it sees sufficient near-term applications to justify the investment, likely in controlled settings like factories and warehouses before broader consumer rollout.

What Samsung Needs to Prove

Building a robotics division is the easy part. Shipping products that customers will pay for at scale is harder. Samsung must demonstrate that its robots can perform economically valuable tasks more reliably and cheaply than human labor or existing automation. That requires breakthroughs in dexterity, the ability to manipulate unfamiliar objects without extensive programming, and in autonomy, the capacity to operate for hours without human intervention.

The company also faces software challenges. Training models for physical tasks demands vast datasets of robot interactions, which Samsung does not yet possess. Partnerships or acquisitions may be necessary to accelerate learning. OpenAI and Google have years of head start in collecting interaction data and building foundation models for robotics. Samsung's hardware prowess won't matter if the intelligence layer lags.

Talent acquisition will be critical. Lee's hire is a strong signal, but robotics requires interdisciplinary teams spanning mechanical engineering, AI research, and manufacturing operations. Samsung will compete with Hyundai, Chinese EV makers exploring humanoids, and well-funded startups for a limited pool of experts.

The Asia Advantage

Samsung's move underscores a broader shift in robotics leadership toward Asia. South Korea, Japan, and China collectively account for the majority of industrial robot deployments and increasingly dominate humanoid development. Government support, dense manufacturing ecosystems, and cultural openness to robots in service roles give Asian firms structural advantages.

For Samsung, robotics also hedges against smartphone market saturation. Mobile device growth has plateaued, and the company needs new revenue engines. If physical AI becomes a multi-hundred-billion-dollar category over the next decade, early positioning could yield returns comparable to its memory chip dominance.

The RX division will operate under intense scrutiny. Samsung's track record in new categories is mixed. It has succeeded in displays and semiconductors but stumbled in software services. Robotics demands excellence in both hardware and intelligence. Whether Lee and Roh can orchestrate that integration will determine if RX becomes a strategic pillar or an expensive experiment.

The broader question for the industry is whether 2026 marks the year physical AI transitions from research curiosity to commercial reality. Samsung's $13 billion wager suggests at least one major player believes the answer is yes.