[Edaily SOYEON KIM Reporter Choi Oh-hyun] On the 27th, marking the fourth anniversary of his appointment, Jay Y. Lee, chairman of SamsungElectronics, visited the site of the company’s robotics business—a key driver of future growth—in person. Instead of holding a separate commemorative event, he conveyed his message through “on-site management” of the humanoid robot project. Robotics is seen as a new growth engine capable of revitalizing SamsungElectronics’ struggling consumer electronics (DX) business.

Starting around 2:00 p.m. that day, Chairman Lee spent approximately three hours visiting the Robotics Experience (RX) Business Promotion Office located at the SamsungElectronics Seoul R&D Campus in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. This was Chairman Lee’s first visit to the RX Business Promotion Office since its launch last July. The RX Business Promotion Office is the core organization for the robotics business, reporting directly to Noh Tae-moon, Head of the DX Division.

It is reported that starting at 2:00 p.m. that day, Chairman Lee spent approximately three hours receiving a briefing on the current status of humanoid robot technology under development by the research team and reviewing future commercialization strategies. Given that SamsungElectronics is expected to unveil its humanoid technology at “CES 2027,” the world’s largest consumer electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition to be held in Las Vegas, U.S., next January, the status of related preparations is also believed to have been a key focus of the review.

Chairman Lee’s visit to the front lines of the robotics business on the very day marking the fourth anniversary of his appointment is seen as a demonstration of his commitment to fostering robotics as a next-generation growth engine. Following the acquisition of Rainbow Robotics as a subsidiary, SamsungElectronics has set a goal to transform its domestic and international manufacturing facilities into AI-powered autonomous factories by 2030. The company is accelerating commercialization efforts, including the phased introduction of humanoid robots into manufacturing sites. Robots are viewed as having the potential to lead the DX (Digital Transformation) division in the future, following traditional finished-product businesses such as smartphones, TVs, and home appliances.

This visit is also in line with Chairman Lee’s “technology-driven management” philosophy. Earlier, Chairman Lee visited the Seoul R&D Campus as his first on-site management stop of 2024 and stated, “The more difficult the times, the more we need proactive research and development (R&D) and unwavering investment.”