Junho Lee, CEO of Samsung SDS: "New Investments in AX, Robotics, and Logistics... RX to Start with Samsung Affiliates and Expand Globally"

Samsung SDS is considering new investments in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and logistics sectors using funds secured from global investment firm KKR. The newly announced robotics business will initially target Samsung’s manufacturing affiliates.

Junho Lee, CEO of Samsung SDS, said at a press conference on the morning of September 8, held after the company’s annual “Real Summit 2026” event at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, “We are reviewing strategic investment directions related to AI transformation (AX), and from the perspective of robotic transformation (RX), we are also considering equity investments in projects such as the Robot Foundation Model (RFM).”

Executives including Samsung SDS CEO Junhee Lee (center) answer questions during a press conference held after the keynote speech at Samsung SDS's annual event "Real Summit 2026," held on the morning of the 8th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. From left: Keyyeong Shin, Vice President and Head of the AI Business Team; Hojun Lee, Vice President and Head of the Cloud Services Division; CEO Junhee Lee; Haegu Song, Vice President and Head of the Solutions Division; Daejung An, Vice President and Head of the Digital Factory Division. Photo by Myunghwan Lee

In April, Samsung SDS secured 1.2 trillion won from KKR through the issuance of convertible bonds (CB). At the time, Samsung SDS announced that it would supplement its cash holdings of 6.4 trillion won with the new funds in order to continue investing in AI infrastructure and reinforce AX competitiveness. During its second-quarter conference call this year, the company also stated its plan to invest a total of 10 trillion won by 2031 utilizing this capital.

Samsung SDS is also making investments in its logistics business, one of its core segments. CEO Lee stated, “We are reviewing strategies for strengthening air logistics, and expect to introduce concrete outcomes in the near future.”

A roadmap for the newly announced robotics business was also revealed on this day. Daejung Ahn, Vice President and Head of the Digital Factory Division at Samsung SDS, explained, “Samsung’s manufacturing affiliates have established over 1,000 production lines in the market. Since many of these lines still rely on manual labor, we will first focus on converting them to general-purpose robotics.”

Vice President Ahn added that the company will also target around 430 external clients currently operating on its manufacturing execution system (MES) solution. Looking further ahead, Samsung SDS aims to expand globally, with the United States—a market pursuing reinvigoration of its manufacturing sector—as a key mid- to long-term target.

To further its RX business, Samsung SDS is also pursuing partnerships with Chinese companies that possess competitive strengths in robot hardware. Vice President Ahn noted, “China has excellent robot end-effector technology and strong cost competitiveness. At the same time, Korean companies also have strengths in training data and model simulation.” He emphasized the intent to combine Chinese robotic manufacturing technologies with Korean system integration expertise.

A platform for ‘robot orchestration’—integrating heterogeneous robots and operating systems—will also be introduced soon. CEO Lee said, “We are focusing on developing a robot orchestration platform that integrates multiple types of robots, and we expect to make announcements about this in the near future.”

Samsung SDS will also fully engage in the AX business to help clients achieve concrete results. CEO Lee stressed, “We have entered an era where competition is no longer about AI adoption but about how to deliver real outcomes. Only when AI is used to redesign work processes and deploy AI agents in actual work situations to yield tangible results can it truly be called AI transformation (AX).”

Regarding Samsung SDS’s differentiators, CEO Lee said, “From AI infrastructure such as our Dongtan AI Data Center to platform solutions, we provide the entire range of AI services in a fully integrated way. We will continue to pursue open collaboration with global players like OpenAI and Anthropic.” On this day, Samsung SDS also announced that it would become the first Korean company to participate as a pilot partner in OpenAI’s cyber security initiative, the “Daybreak Partner Program.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.