[Upcoming K-Robot Era] ① China Shifts Focus from Hardware to Brains... Competitive Edge Moves from HW to SW

China’s Strategic Expansion of Investment in Robot Software

Editor's NoteRobots equipped with high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) as their brains are now capable of autonomous decision-making and adaptive learning, making "who has the smarter AI" the key competitive edge in robotics. While the hardware gap among robots is narrowing, differences in software capabilities have become much more pronounced. This article examines the competitiveness of Korea's robot software, and explores what efforts are required to secure an advantage over countries like the United States and China in the upcoming age of robotics.

"The shift in the core of competition in the robotics industry from hardware (HW) to software (SW) is a structural change. In the past, performance in precision actuators, reducers, and sensors was synonymous with a robot's competitiveness, but now, intelligence and behavioral generation capabilities beyond hardware have become key differentiators." (Kim Ikjae, Director of the AI and Robotics Research Institute at Korea Institute of Science and Technology)

As robots equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly advance, the center of gravity in the robotics industry is quickly shifting toward software. Robots are evolving from simply moving machines to systems that understand, judge, and act within their environment. As a result, the United States and China, which dominate the robotics industry, are actively strengthening their software capabilities. With hardware becoming increasingly commoditized and AI models advancing to visual-language models (VLM) and visual-language-action models (VLA), Korea, which is lagging behind the United States and China in robotics competitiveness, urgently needs to take control of the software domain.

According to the robotics industry on March 5, Chinese companies are partnering with state-owned funds and big tech firms to secure large-scale investments aimed at bolstering their software competitiveness. Previously, the primary application of robots was automation, but as the focus shifts to autonomy, Chinese firms are significantly increasing investments in software, cognitive software, and AI-based behavioral generation technologies.

LimX Dynamics, a humanoid robot manufacturer based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, succeeded last month in attracting an investment of approximately 290.5 billion won from Stone Venture in the United Arab Emirates and JD.com in China. In January, the company released its AI robot agent operating system (OS), 'LimX Cosa,' and is pouring substantial funds into embodied AI robotics technology and OS development. Startup XSquare Robot, also located in Shenzhen, recently secured a 209.3 billion won investment from Alibaba Group and the state-owned Beijing Information Development Fund, and is focusing on developing robotics-based foundation models.

The rapid rise of China as a robotics powerhouse is not simply due to hardware competitiveness. Experts point out that China's strength lies in restructuring the robotics industry from a machinery-based one into a software-centric industry. As AI becomes the brain of robots, enabling autonomous decision-making and adaptive learning, the approach is to view robots not as mere extensions of manufacturing technology, but as platforms where AI operates in the physical world.

Software Determines Robot Performance... China Leads in Investment

Kim Ikjae, Director of the AI and Robotics Research Institute at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), emphasized, "The essence of the physical AI competition is to realize 'AI with a body.' In this context, a robot's performance is determined not by its machinery but by its ability to understand environments, make judgments, and generate actions -- all of which are in the software domain." Kim added, "The United States is focused on creating robot brains based on foundation models, while China is pursuing a strategy centered on massive data and rapid software integration. Korea's individual technological capabilities are among the world’s best, but in terms of integrated architecture and the scale of robot AI platform data, these have yet to translate into industrial competitiveness, making systematization an urgent need."

The industry is closely watching China's trend of concentrating its investments in robot software. While the United States has been leading in robot software, China, up until 2023, focused on hardware-driven competition, quickly mass-producing relatively inexpensive humanoid hardware. However, after seeing the potential of AI through recent cases like DeepSeek, China is rapidly shifting its focus to strengthening its software competitiveness. According to Barclays and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), last year, China accounted for an overwhelming 85% of global humanoid robot installations, followed by the United States at 13%, with other countries making up just 2%. If China, which already has strengths in mass production and supply chains for components, also comes to dominate software, its dominance in the robotics industry is likely to continue.

Dongshin Son, a committee member at the Future Robotics Lab of LG CNS, said, "With advancements in AI technology, robots have gained the ability to think, which has further heightened the importance of software that enables them to perform tasks intelligently. Once hardware reaches a certain level, the 'brain' will play an even greater role, making software competition among countries increasingly fierce."

Son further noted, "In terms of hardware, China is likely to stay ahead for some time due to price competitiveness and other factors, but domestic hardware companies are catching up quickly, and the gap will narrow over time. Moving forward, software capabilities -- namely, the ability to develop and apply RFM (robot foundation models), known as robot brains, to industrial settings -- will be the decisive factor in securing a final competitive advantage."

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