Korea commits KRW 1.4tn to AI shipyard projects: HD Hyundai Samho plans KRW 400bn plant

Korea's shipyards have talked about robots on the dock for years. On Oct 12 the government attached a budget. Korea's trade and industry ministry (MOTIR) and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a joint press release that public and private investment of more than KRW 1.4 trillion will go into three regional flagship projects through 2030 to bring AI and automation into block assembly, outfitting and small-part assembly. The first is a KRW 400 billion AI lighthouse shipyard that HD Hyundai Samho and its supplier Daea Industry agreed to build in the Daebul Free Trade Zone in Yeongam, South Jeolla.

The ministries announced it at a strategy meeting in Mokpo attended by about 200 people from 100 organisations, where the autonomous-ship alliance launched in December 2025 was widened into a Shipbuilding M.AX Alliance (M.AX is the government's term for AI transformation of manufacturing). The release blames rivals taking market share and a shortage of workers, and says the gap between large yards, some of which already use drones to monitor work, and suppliers that still work by hand is wide. The useful question is how much of the KRW 1.4 trillion is public money, and what the rest commits companies to.

Three regions, three processes, one template

Each project pairs an anchor yard with a group of named suppliers, so that technology proven at the yard moves down the supply chain.

In Mokpo and Yeongam, HD Hyundai Samho leads development of AI tools for block production and builds a demonstration plant, while HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering develops autonomous logistics and yard-operations software. Daea Industry co-develops automation for curved blocks, and eight other suppliers, among them Yuil, Taejin, Owon and Hankook Made, are to adopt what is proven there. In Geoje and Busan, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean will move their drawing systems to AI and share design and production data with equipment makers through a common platform, including standardised drawing data that suppliers can feed straight into automation robots. Busan holds about 60% of Korea's marine equipment makers, the release said. Pipe makers Samnok, Haeyang Family and Haewon will install automated equipment for cutting, bending, finishing, welding, pickling and painting. In Gunsan, J Ocean Heavy Industries, which bought the Gunsan yard and plans to restart newbuilding there after a halt in 2017, will expand a plant for small-part assembly trials and host a private 5G network that feeds process data to a national data library due to start in 2027.

Most of the money has to come from the yards

The release itemises the government's part. Adding it up, the state commits KRW 406 billion of the KRW 1.406 trillion, or 28.9%. The other KRW 1 trillion is private. In Mokpo and Yeongam the non-government part, KRW 400 billion, is exactly the sum HD Hyundai Samho and Daea pledged in the memorandum signed at the meeting, so that project's private side is already written down. In Geoje and Busan another KRW 400 billion and in Gunsan KRW 200 billion are not tied to any signed commitment in the release.

Method: total = 5,960 + 5,000 + 3,100 (KRW 100 million units) = 14,060; government = (1,600 + 360) + 1,000 + 1,100 = 4,060; share = 4,060 / 14,060.

From ships that steer themselves to yards that build themselves

The alliance began as an autonomous-ship programme. Since December 2025, shipping lines including HMM and Pan Ocean agreed to share more than 500 TB of operating data for a public dataset, members identified 33 international standards they need, and a KRW 460 billion R&D programme for fully autonomous ships at IMO Level 4 started in July 2026, according to the release. The ministries also published the first basic plan for autonomous ships for 2026 to 2035, which targets the start of IMO Level 4 operations and first place in global orders for such ships by 2035.

MEKAWIRE has tracked the same shift in Europe. [Fincantieri](/news/fincantieri-boost2-shipyard-of-the-future-physical-ai-collaborative-robots-100m-euro-13-yards-20261014) said on Oct 14 that its BOOST² programme is moving physical AI and collaborative robots from trials to deployment across 13 yards, with almost EUR 100 million in its industrial plan. HD Hyundai Samho is also one of the four host sites where [Robros may run 20 humanoids](/news/korea-sandbox-robros-20-humanoids-factories-shipyard-20261013) under the sandbox approval of Oct 13, so the same yard is now testing both humanoids and a purpose-built automated block line.