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A robotic demonstrates stacking bins for logistics facilities throughout Sensible Manufacturing unit + Automation World 2025 at COEX in Seoul’s Gangnam District, March 12, 2025. Korea Occasions file
Korea is demonstrating world-class competitiveness within the on-site software of robots. However the nation’s heavy reliance on Chinese language and Japanese imports for uncooked supplies and parts leaves the home business susceptible to potential provide chain disruptions, in line with a report by the Korea Worldwide Commerce Affiliation (KITA), Sunday.
Citing the Worldwide Federation of Robotics’ 2024 statistics, the report famous that Korea ranked fourth on the earth for put in robotic gear in industrial settings. China led, adopted by Japan and the USA.
Korea additionally ranked first on the earth for robotic density, with 1,012 robots working for each 10,000 workers, the report mentioned.
Regardless of strong exercise within the robotics sector, KITA mentioned South Korea’s robotic business stays susceptible to provide chain disruptions resulting from heavy reliance on Chinese language and Japanese imports of uncooked supplies and key parts.
The report mentioned that as of final yr, 88.8 % of Korea’s imports of everlasting magnets, a key element for robotic motors, got here from China, whereas the nation’s reliance on China for uncooked supplies resembling uncommon earth parts used to supply the magnets additionally reached 60 %.
By way of parts, Korea is closely depending on imports from Japan for precision reducers, a core a part of robotic drive techniques. Japanese firms resembling Harmonic Drive Methods and Yaskawa dominate key reducer segments together with harmonic drives and rotary vector reducers.
KITA famous that, resulting from this dependence, the federal government estimates Korea has domesticated simply over 40 % of the important thing supplies and parts used within the robotics business. As a consequence of this, the Korean business’s rising manufacturing of full end-products remains to be accompanied by rising imports, leaving it susceptible to potential dangers from world provide chains, the report famous.
A mining machine is seen at Bayan Obo mine transporting uncommon earth minerals in Inside Mongolia, China, on this undated photograph. Reuters-Yonhap
Japan, in contrast, is demonstrating a sturdy provide chain regardless of restricted home pure assets. The report mentioned the nation’s superior upcycling applied sciences for extracting uncommon earth minerals from discarded robotic motors are boosting its provide chain resilience.
The 2 international locations’ contrasting robotics ecosystems are mirrored of their commerce efficiency, in line with KITA. Whereas 71.2 % of robotic merchandise made in Korea are bought domestically, Japan exports greater than 70 % of its robotic merchandise. KITA described this as “a serious hole in world competitiveness.”
“Korea might have an excellent functionality to make the most of robots throughout industrial sectors. Nevertheless it has a transparent structural drawback of extremely counting on imports for the important thing supplies and components. Korea has been specializing in manufacturing and implementing robotics. Now, the main target should shift to stabilizing the business’s provide chain,” a KITA official mentioned.
To deal with this vital problem, KITA proposed that each suppliers and producers cooperate to cut back reliance on imported uncommon earth minerals. The group additionally urged the Korean authorities to share the dangers of domesticizing the business’s key supplies and to develop native mineral mines to safe home sources.
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