Samsung SDS to invest $7.4 billion in AI, robotics and M&A by 2031

Samsung SDS will invest 10 trillion won ($7.4 billion) by 2031 in expanding AI infrastructure, along with robotics and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

“The company is reviewing investments across AI transformation and robotics, including a potential equity stake in a robot foundation model developer,” Samsung SDS CEO Lee June-hee said at REAL Summit 2026, held at Coex in southern Seoul on Tuesday. The summit is an annual conference Samsung SDS runs each September to showcase its solutions and share customer case studies across industries.

The plan builds on the 10 trillion won investment announced in April, which had focused on expanding data centers and GPUs for AI infrastructure. The company is now adding strategic investments and M&A to that plan. The sum includes $820 million secured from global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and 6.6 trillion won in cash and cash equivalents.

“We expect to introduce results soon and to recoup the investment quickly as well,” Lee said, adding that the investment centers on three areas: AI transformation, robot transformation and logistics.

Regarding robot transformation, the company is targeting the United States as its main market as the country pursues manufacturing reshoring.

The IT service arm of the conglomerate also said it is the first Korean company to become a pilot partner of Daybreak, OpenAI's cybersecurity program, which uses OpenAI's frontier models to automate the entire security process. It also signed a partnership with Anthropic in San Francisco in July to develop a new AI transformation business.

Samsung SDS is in discussions on a partnership involving Anthropic's cybersecurity initiative Glasswing.

“OpenAI and Anthropic both place heavy weight on the security capabilities of any partner that actually runs projects like Daybreak or Glasswing,” Lee said. “They focus closely on preventing a security partner's own shortcomings from creating problems while inspecting an enterprise client's security, so becoming a partner requires passing a rigorous verification of security capability.”

Lee said the government is reviewing related issues, and he expects Samsung SDS will be able to apply for Glasswing once those are resolved.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]