Korean cobot makers vs China in 2026: Doosan Robotics, Neuromeka and HD Hyundai Robotics compared with FAIR, Dobot and Universal Robots

Korea's cobot makers are betting on the same idea as their Chinese rivals, that the collaborative arm becomes the arm and hand of an industrial humanoid, but they are paying for it differently. Doosan Robotics and Neuromeka are funding the shift largely through national physical-AI projects, and HD Hyundai Robotics through its group's balance sheet. Chinese makers such as FAIR Innovation and Dobot are funding it through private rounds, Hong Kong listings and unit volume. On every growth number MEKAWIRE has verified for 2025 and 2026, the Chinese side is ahead.

This piece compares what each company has disclosed, explains why the cobot is turning into a humanoid component, and sets out what would change the picture for Korea.

The numbers: growth in China, shrinkage in Korea

Doosan Robotics, Korea's largest listed cobot maker, reported 2025 consolidated revenue of KRW 32.98bn, down 29.6%, and an operating loss of KRW 59.47bn, according to its DART filings. Sales of its core cobot arms roughly halved as North American demand fell about 50% under tariff uncertainty. Dobot, listed in Hong Kong, grew 2025 revenue 31.7% to RMB 492.2m, with embodied-AI robots rising to RMB 20.0m from RMB 3.9m. Teradyne Robotics, the owner of Universal Robots and MiR, reported $100m of second-quarter 2026 revenue against $75m a year earlier.

FAIR Innovation (FAIRINO), a Suzhou-area cobot maker, has just closed Series C+ and D rounds totalling nearly RMB 1bn led by Meituan Longzhu and Meituan, according to reports by 36Kr and IPO Zaozhidao that the company has not confirmed on its site. It expects 18,000 robot orders in 2026, up 68%, which implies about 10,700 units in 2025.

Derived metrics: Doosan's 2025 operating loss equalled 180% of its revenue (59.47 divided by 32.98). Government funding is 68.9% of the KRW 98.9bn budget of Doosan's two new projects (68.1 divided by 98.9) and 60% of Neuromeka's KRW 17.5bn welding project (10.5 divided by 17.5). FAIR's implied 2025 volume is 18,000 divided by 1.68.

What each Korean maker is building

Doosan Robotics won two MOTIR and KEIT projects on Oct 6: a 54-month programme to put a Korean AI system-on-chip into three cobots with 5, 10 and 20 kg payloads and a two-armed omnidirectional industrial humanoid, aiming for standard products from 2031 with partners including AIDIN Robotics, Mobilint, KETI and KITECH; and a 45-month nuclear-component welding project with DEEPX and Doosan Enerbility. It named Kwon Young-min, previously head of Doosan Mottrol, as chief executive on Oct 1.

Neuromeka (KOSDAQ: 348340) leads a KRW 17.5bn MSIT project from August 2026 to December 2030 to train a large action model for autonomous welding of curved ship-hull blocks. It also supplies AI cobots for DIC's gear-machining line and signed a smart-building MOU with Samsung C&T, and with KAIST it showed its EIR humanoid doing two-handed work with a single head camera.

HD Hyundai Robotics launched the HDC series in July with 25, 35 and 50 kg payloads, top speed 5.9 m/s and radar-based collision avoidance, aiming at palletising and heavy handling in car, battery and logistics plants where cobots have seen little use.