Golden Century Partners with Tencent Subsidiary... "Targeting 59 Trillion Won Autonomous Driving Tractor Market"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Golden Century is accelerating its efforts to capture the autonomous driving tractor market worth 59 trillion KRW by partnering with a Tencent subsidiary.

Golden Century announced on the 15th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China's Yixin Group to officially launch its autonomous electric tractor business.

Founded in Shanghai in 2014, Yixin Group is China's largest automotive financial transaction platform, with a market capitalization of HKD 4.958 billion (approximately 834.5 billion KRW) as of the 11th. The cumulative transaction volume has exceeded 3 million units, and the total transaction value has reached about HKD 250 billion (approximately 46.54 trillion KRW). Tencent, the largest shareholder, holds a 53.89% stake, thereby building and operating a vast automotive e-commerce ecosystem.

Additionally, Yixin Group's subsidiary, Mago Chalyun New Technology Co., Ltd. (hereafter Mago Chalyun), is a leading autonomous driving company in China, providing full-stack autonomous driving technologies (all essential autonomous driving element technologies) and operational services. Notably, it offers autonomous driving services in 32 provinces and autonomous regions across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, Hunan Province, Henan Province, and Hubei Province, drawing significant attention. Furthermore, through vehicle, road, and cloud-layered sensing and decision-making systems, it has greatly enhanced the reliability and stability of large-scale L4-level autonomous driving.

Recently, agricultural machinery companies worldwide are transforming into agtech (advanced agricultural technology) companies. Despite the surge in food demand, the decline and aging of the farming population have led to rapid growth in the autonomous agricultural machinery industry. According to Goldman Sachs, the global market size for autonomous tractors is expected to grow from $600 million (approximately 790 billion KRW) in 2015 to $1.2 billion (approximately 1.58 trillion KRW) in 2023, and reach $45 billion (approximately 59 trillion KRW) by 2050.

A Golden Century official stated, "In the agricultural machinery industry, there is an increasing trend to integrate IT technologies such as IoT and telematics to maximize productivity and convenience, and the most notable product is the autonomous driving technology-based electric tractor." He added, "Starting with this MOU, Golden Century will actively pursue various M&As aiming to develop autonomous electric tractors, which have become a necessity rather than a choice in the agtech industry."

He continued, "Having recently appointed four Korean board members to transform into a Korean company, we plan to fully focus on capturing the rapidly growing autonomous tractor market worth 59 trillion KRW."