Hyundai Motor takes vice-chair seat and Qualcomm joins board of Korea's AI and robot industry association ahead of RoboWorld

The Korea AI and Robot Industry Association, chaired by Oh Jun-ho, said on Oct 15 that its board has named Hyundai Motor Company a vice-chair member and Qualcomm Technologies a board member, and admitted chip-packaging firm STATS ChipPAC Korea as a regular member, Robot Newspaper (irobotnews) reported; MEKAWIRE did not find the association's own release, so the details are as reported.

The association said the new members bring carmaking, semiconductor and on-device AI expertise and will take part in its work on policy proposals, proof-of-concept projects for new AI and robot applications, overseas market support and cross-industry partnerships.

Full-time vice chairman Bae Seok-tae said the group would focus on linking AI and robot technology across its members nationwide. The association also said its RoboWorld 2026 show runs Nov 4 to 7 with about 400 companies in 1,100 booths, including Rainbow Robotics, Robotis, DN Solutions, Advantech, FANUC, Unitree and Booster Robotics.

Qualcomm's seat comes three weeks after it bought PickNik, the company behind the MoveIt motion-planning framework, a deal MEKAWIRE reported on Sept 23, and gives the US chipmaker a formal voice in Korea's main robot industry body alongside Hyundai Motor Group, owner of Boston Dynamics.