South Korea to build national manufacturing data library to boost humanoid robot industry

The government is moving to build a national manufacturing data library to strengthen the humanoid robot industry. The initiative aims to establish data collection and verification infrastructure to secure high-quality manufacturing data for humanoid robot training, with plans to include the project in the 2027 cross-ministry budget.

Park Hong-keun, minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, held a roundtable Wednesday in Gangnam, Seoul, with key domestic humanoid robot companies and visited humanoid robot startup Holiday Robotics to observe a live demonstration. The meeting was organized to hear industry concerns and discuss the direction of future fiscal investment as South Korea transitions into the era of physical AI.

In his opening remarks, Park said AI is rapidly moving beyond software into a physical AI stage where it operates in real-world spaces, with humanoid robots at the center of that shift. "The government will provide support not just for technology development, but from an ecosystem perspective that connects data, real-world testing, key components and early-stage markets," he said.

Park also said it is critical to connect South Korea's world-class manufacturing facilities and strong parts and equipment infrastructure to the humanoid robot industry, underscoring the government's commitment to comprehensive support.

The roundtable brought together companies spanning the entire value chain, including those working on robot AI models, components and finished products, as well as demand-side companies, investment institutions and research organizations. Participants agreed that humanoid competitiveness stems not from individual technologies but from an industrial ecosystem in which AI models, key components, industrial data and real-world testing are organically linked.

The industry particularly flagged that manufacturing and logistics data needed for humanoid robot training is scattered across sectors, making it difficult for individual companies to secure sufficient data. Participants urged the government to urgently build national-level data accumulation and verification infrastructure.

In response, Park said the government fully agrees on the need for a data library and data collection and verification infrastructure, and pledged to actively review including a national manufacturing data library project in the 2027 budget — one that would involve cooperation among relevant ministries including the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Park added that the humanoid robot industry is ultimately a competition of entire ecosystems — where AI models, key component supply chains, and data and testing infrastructure work in concert — rather than a contest of individual technologies. "The government will strengthen its fiscal investment framework so that these three pillars reinforce one another in a virtuous cycle, going beyond piecemeal support," he said.

After the roundtable, Park visited the Holiday Robotics research facility to observe robots on a manufacturing line collecting and learning from data in real time while performing sorting and logistics tasks.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget said it plans to comprehensively review the proposals raised at Wednesday's roundtable and site visit and actively incorporate them into fiscal investment policy for physical AI and humanoid robots during next year's budget formulation process.