Industrial Robots
Foreign companies are expected to accelerate their offensives in the local industrial robot market. European companies are targeting the South Korean robotics market, where 10,000 workers use 396 robots, the top level in terms of the average number of robots used by a worker in the industrial field (data from IFR, World Robotics 2013).
In particular, South Korea has been recognized as an attractive market to foreign robot businesses, in that the South Korean manufacturing industry is spread across the semiconductors, electronics, and automobiles sectors.
Foreign companies such as Austria's Keba and Germany's Kuka Robotics are being very aggressive in entering the South Korean market by participating in Korea's largest robotics event, the “2014 Robot World” held at KINTEX on Oct. 26.
Keba, which established a subsidiary in Korea last year and achieved sales of three billion won for a year, is contacting South Korean industrial robot manufacturers like Hyundai Heavy Industries and universities with a goal of 30 percent sales growth for a year.
Keba is focusing on the market of parts and software for industrial robots, since the local market depends considerably on their import. According to Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, over 80 percent of industrial robot parts and software are currently imported.
Kuka Robotics, which is a manufacturer of articulated robots, set up its Korean subsidiary in 1998. The company has only a 3 percent market share in the Korean market, even though its share tops the European industrial robot market.
The South Korean robot market has grown to account for one seventh (approximately 2 trillion won, or US$1.9 billion) of the global robot market (approximately 14 trillion won, or US$13.3 billion) in 2013, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Meanwhile, the size of foreign company booths in this year's Robot World, which ended on Oct. 26, is two times larger than last year. According to the Korea Association of Robot Industry that is hosting the “2014 Robot World,” 40 booths (17 companies) out of 320 were set up by foreign companies. The size was more than 2.2 times compared to last year (18 booths, 14 companies).