Samsung Electronics creates CEO-led robotics division to accelerate physical AI ambitions

Samsung Electronics shares rise as robotics move highlights push into physical AI

Samsung Electronics shares rose after the company said Tuesday it is creating a robotics division as the South Korean tech giant seeks new sources of growth. The newly created RX, or Robotics eXperience, will consolidate Samsung's robotics capabilities and is intended to drive a mid- to long-term strategy from core tech development to commercialization, the company said in an emailed statement. CEO TM Roh will oversee the division directly. Samsung rose 6.76%, while the benchmark Kospi index was up about 4%. Creation of the entity highlights a push into physical AI. Earlier this month, Roh said at a public briefing in Jinju that Samsung Electronics plans to invest around 60 trillion won ($40.7 billion) in the Yeongnam region, which includes its Gumi site. That's after Samsung in late 2024 raised its stake in local firm Rainbow Robotics to become the largest shareholder. Of the total, 19 trillion won will be designated for Gumi, in partnership with Samsung SDS, to develop physical AI infrastructure and humanoid robot manufacturing facilities. The new unit will look to establish research bases in the U.S., China, and Japan.

Samsung establishes a robotics division - Engadget

Samsung establishes a robotics division Dongkun Lee, formerly of Hyundai, will oversee its strategy. Samsung has created a new division called RX or Robotics eXperience for all of its robotics projects. Its strategy will be headed by Dongkun Lee, who joined Samsung in May as an Executive Vice President. Before he joined Samsung, Lee led Hyundai's robotics strategy, including Boston Dynamics'. Samsung CEO TM Roh himself will oversee the new division. While RX will be based in Samsung's Seoul facilities in South Korea, Reuters says the company is also planning to build robotics research hubs in the US, China and Japan to tap into the expertise of locals. RX's establishment signals that the company, like many of peers in the tech industry, is getting serious about working on projects revolving around the development of physical AI. Hyundai recently purchased the rest of Boston Dynamics for the same reason. In February, a robotics company established by Alphabet to design robotics for manufacturing was folded into Google. And OpenAI is working on a series of devices meant to be the physical manifestation of ChatGPT, the first of which is believed to be a speaker. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, Samsung intends to start manufacturing humanoid robots sometime this year. Roh previously announced that the company will invest 19 trillion Korean won ($13 billion) to develop manufacturing facilities in its Gumi, Korea site for the production of its humanoid robots, CNBC says.

Samsung creates a CEO-led robotics division to chase humanoid robots

The new RX unit reports straight to the chief executive, a sign of how central physical AI has become to Samsung's growth plan. Samsung Electronics has pulled its scattered robotics work into a single business division that reports straight to the chief executive, a structural move meant to turn hardware ambition into a genuine growth engine. The new unit, called RX, or Robotics eXperience, sits directly under co-chief executive Roh Tae-moon and signals how seriously the company is chasing physical AI as its next act. Announced on 21 July, the reorganisation arrives as Samsung leans on robotics to offset softer earnings in its mobile and home appliance businesses, where price competition and a maturing smartphone market have squeezed margins. It also puts the firm more openly in the race for humanoid robots, a field already crowded with Chinese and American challengers. Robotics has been billed as a future growth engine before, but the decision to spin out a standalone division, made outside the usual year-end reshuffle, gives the effort a mandate it previously lacked. The RX unit will own mid-to-long-term strategy, core technology development, and the commercial rollout of Samsung's robots. The leadership choices tell their own story. Lee Dong-kun, an executive vice-president, will head the Robotics Strategy Team after joining from Hyundai Motor Group, where he oversaw robotics strategy including the direction of Boston Dynamics. Samsung has recruited academic muscle alongside him. It has brought in Kim Hyoun-jin of Seoul National University, who specialises in autonomous robot guidance and control, and Kim Ui-kyum of Ajou University, an expert in dexterous robotic hands. The company has described the robotic hand as one of the hardest and costliest problems in building a humanoid, though the precise share of component costs is harder to pin down. The division does not start from zero. Samsung raised its holding in Rainbow Robotics, a Korean maker of collaborative and humanoid robots, to about 35% by the end of 2024, becoming the largest shareholder and folding the company in as a consolidated subsidiary. That earlier bet was sizeable. The firm first took a 14.7% stake for around 86.8 billion won, then exercised a call option worth roughly 267 billion won to lift its holding, turning a passive investment into control. The two sides have discussed a synergy council to match Rainbow's collaborative robots, dual-arm manipulators and autonomous mobile robots with Samsung's software, AI and global sales reach. According to the Korea Herald, RX will be based at Samsung's Seoul research campus, with a dedicated data factory planned at its Gumi complex to train robots on real-world industrial data. The company intends to open further research hubs in the United States, China, and Japan to tap local talent and technology ecosystems. The near-term plan is to build humanoids for manufacturing first, then expand into home and retail settings once the technology proves reliable. Samsung has said it will pursue investment and acquisitions where necessary to speed up development and commercialisation, language that suggests more dealmaking to come. Investors appeared to welcome the reshuffle, with Samsung shares rising after the announcement, according to CNBC, which framed the move as part of a wider push into physical AI. The company had told analysts in January that it wanted tangible results in humanoid robotics this year, pointing to advances in AI that are starting to make the machines commercially plausible. Whether Samsung can convert organisational tidiness into working products is another matter. The next-generation robotics wave has produced no shortage of prototypes and pledges, yet deployment at scale remains rare, and rivals from Tesla to a swarm of Chinese startups are chasing the same prize. Samsung's advantages are its balance sheet, its manufacturing footprint, and a supply chain that already produces the chips, sensors, and displays a humanoid needs. For now, the clearest signal is structural. By handing robotics its own division and a direct line to the chief executive, Samsung has removed the usual excuses about competing internal priorities, and made the unit's success a test of its wider growth strategy.