Samsung Earnestly Invests in Robots, Secures 10% Stake in Rainbow Robotics

Samsung Electronics Invests 59 Billion KRW in Rainbow Robotics
Expecting Comprehensive Technology Collaboration Including Collaborative Robots

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Samsung Electronics, which has been focusing on investment and research and development in the promising growth field of robotics business, is participating in a paid-in capital increase of collaborative robot manufacturer Rainbow Robotics. It secured more than 10% of the shares and also obtained the right to appoint a director.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 3rd, Rainbow Robotics is promoting a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase worth 59 billion KRW targeting Samsung Electronics. The issue price of the new shares is 30,400 KRW, applying a 10% discount compared to the reference stock price of 33,758 KRW. The payment date is the 11th, and the new shares will be listed on the 20th. Samsung Electronics will become the second largest shareholder by securing 1,942,000 new shares (10.3% stake).

Signing Shareholders' Agreement to Cooperate with Existing Board Members

Samsung Electronics signed a shareholders' agreement with Rainbow Robotics' inside directors and secured the right to appoint one director. In addition, the four inside directors?Junho Oh, CTO of Rainbow Robotics and the largest shareholder, CEO Jeongho Lee, and technical directors Jungwoo Heo and Jeongsu Lim?agreed not to dispose of their shares without Samsung Electronics' consent for a certain period. When disposing of shares, Samsung Electronics can exercise a preemptive purchase right.

Samsung Electronics upgraded its robot business task force (TF) to a permanent organization, the Robot Business Team, early last year. Vice Chairman Jonghee Han said at the regular shareholders' meeting in March last year, "The first step in discovering new businesses is the robotics business," and added, "We will take the lead in accumulating robot technology in various fields so that future generations can experience 'Life Companion' robots." In November last year, Vice Chairman Han also emphasized, "We are preparing for the era of 'one robot per person' at home, which will arrive in the near future."

As Samsung Electronics, which is serious about the robotics business, decided to make a large-scale investment in the domestic robotics company Rainbow Robotics, various interpretations are emerging. Rainbow Robotics is a venture company founded by researchers from the Humanoid Robot Research Center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). It possesses core parts and elemental technologies for developing humanoid bipedal robots. Just as the automotive industry showcases technology through 'F1 machines,' one of the pinnacle robot platforms in robotics engineering is the humanoid bipedal robot.

Rainbow Robotics' technological competitiveness comes from its corporate research institute. Recognized as a research institute in 2011, it succeeded in commercializing collaborative robots within one year of research and development. As of the end of September last year, 32 researchers were engaged in R&D activities, responsible for advancing existing product technologies and developing new products. Professor Junho Oh, an emeritus professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST who developed Korea's first humanoid robot 'Hubo,' is in charge of technology development.

Rainbow Robotics has developed not only core parts but also software and control algorithms independently. Based on its technological capabilities, it secured cost competitiveness and established a system capable of quickly responding to market changes and customer demands. The reason Samsung Electronics decided to invest directly is also interpreted as due to the fundamental technology and the research personnel capable of advancing the technology. The fact that a shareholders' agreement was made to prevent the departure of key personnel is also a notable point.

Researcher Seungyun Yang of Eugene Investment & Securities said, "Rainbow Robotics has excellent robot development capabilities and can produce robots that meet Samsung's specifications," and predicted, "Comprehensive technological cooperation will be carried out in walking robots and home-use robots."

If Rainbow Robotics, backed by Samsung Electronics, enters the overseas market in earnest, it is expected to compete with Boston Dynamics, a U.S. robotics company in which Hyundai Motor Group invested 1 trillion KRW in 2021. Hyundai Motor plans to integrate and expand future mobility concepts, including autonomous vehicles, logistics, and urban air mobility (UAM), through Boston Dynamics.