The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company's store in Seoul on April 15, 2025.REUTERS/YONHAP
Samsung Electronics is stepping up its push to develop robots tailored for semiconductor plants with the formation of a dedicated team.
Samsung established an “AX/PI" team under the Global Manufacturing & Infra Technology unit of its Device Solutions (DS) division in charge of its semiconductor operations on Sept. 1, according to information technology industry sources Thursday. The team is responsible for developing and deploying robots for fab automation. AX stands for "AI transformation," while PI stands for "process innovation."
The new team is said to include many employees who previously worked at Samsung’s equipment technology research institute, which conducted research on equipment and component localization and automation. After the institute was downsized and reorganized in 2024, researchers with master’s and doctoral degrees were dispersed across technology organizations specializing in different manufacturing processes. Samsung reportedly brought them back together for fab automation and formed a task force late last year before upgrading it to a permanent team this month.
Equipment maintenance is likely to be the first area targeted for automation, taking on work currently carried out by contractors and on-site engineers.
Industry officials point to Dextro, a collaborative robot for semiconductor equipment maintenance launched by Lam Research in 2024, as an example of the type of robot Samsung could develop. Dextro precisely performs repetitive tasks such as installing, securing and cleaning consumable parts, which helps improve process stability and yield.
Development remains in its early stages. Samsung is reportedly defining routes for robots to travel, work areas and specifications for parts storage while collecting relevant data. Because the location of components and maintenance procedures differ from one piece of equipment to another, work procedures must first be standardized before robots can be deployed.
“Fabs have predetermined routes, equipment and working environments, making them more conducive to rapid automation than general-purpose humanoids that have to operate in unstructured environments,” an industry source said. “In the long term, the key question will be how much of the work currently done by on-site engineers can be transferred to robots.”
The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office in southern Seoul on July 30.AP/YONHAP
Samsung has been developing robotics as a future growth engine.
In July, the company made Lee Dong-kun, who had led Boston Dynamics' robotics strategy at Hyundai Motor Group, vice president of the future planning division while also establishing the Robotics eXperience (RX) business office directly under Roh Tae-moon, president of Samsung Electronics and head of the Device eXperience (DX) division. The DX division oversees Samsung’s consumer electronics and mobile businesses, including TVs, home appliances and smartphones.
While the RX business office is responsible for developing general-purpose humanoids and pursuing commercialization, the newly established team under the DS division is likely to focus on deploying robots tailored specifically to semiconductor fabs.
Ahead of MWC 2026 in March, Samsung announced that it would transform its manufacturing plants in Korea and overseas into AI-powered autonomous factories by 2030.
At the time, Lee Young-soo, executive vice president and head of Samsung Electronics’ Global Technology Research, said the company would gradually introduce robots to manage production lines and equipment, logistics robots to transport materials and assembly robots.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
