With the constant growth of technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, robots have steadily spread from traditional industries such as industrial control logistics. More and more unmanned scenes have also generated more demand for robots. However, the dependence on imports of core components has caused concerns in South Korea.
According to the latest report, Korea has the highest robot density in the world, which means that for every 10,000 manufacturing employees, it has the largest number of robots. Although the proportion of imported parts and components used in manufacturing, professional services, and personal service robots has fallen from 60% in 2016 to 57% in 2018, the level of dependence still grows government concerns.
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In terms of application, South Korea’s dependence on professional and personal service robot components is 56.3% and 53.5%, respectively. Specifically, the dependence of robot manufacturing components on imports reached 61.1%. In this area, in terms of drivers, software, and sensors, the proportion of Korean self-produced components is 14.8%, 24.3%, and 24.9%, respectively.
Moreover, the driving part that occupies the largest cost of robots, such as servo motors and reducers, has a self-produced utilization rate of 29.6%. By 2019, South Korea’s total exports of robot parts and components added 141.8 billion won, while imports over the same period totaled 215.1 billion won. In the process of advancing the independence of semiconductor materials, South Korea still needs to increase the self-production and self-use of semiconductor chips.
