Neuromeka, Gyeongbuk and Pohang plan a ₩180bn robot foundry for contract manufacturing

Neuromeka, the KOSDAQ-listed collaborative-robot maker, signed an agreement with North Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongbuk) and Pohang City on September 9, 2026 to build a “robot foundry” worth about ₩180 billion in Pohang’s Yeongil Bay industrial complex. The plant will manufacture robots under contract for other companies. A first phase of about ₩40 billion is set to start construction in November 2026.

Why it matters: most Korean robot makers are too small to run their own production lines. A shared contract plant lowers that barrier, and it gives Neuromeka a manufacturing business alongside its own product line.

What is the Pohang robot foundry?

The facility, in the Yeongil Bay General Industrial Complex in Heunghae-eup, Buk-gu, Pohang, is to produce collaborative robots, heavy-payload industrial robots, humanoids and autonomous mobile robots. Seoul Shinmun reports that it will take custom orders for contract manufacturing and support small-batch production for companies that lack their own capacity. Robot Newspaper describes the first phase as foundry and systems-house infrastructure. The agreement was signed at the Hilton hotel in Gyeongju, according to Kyongbuk Ilbo.

Neuromeka CEO Park Jong-hun called the project a starting point for building robot foundry and systems-house infrastructure in Korea.

How is the ₩180 billion split and funded?

Phase 1 is about ₩40 billion for the factory. Seoul Shinmun gives its timeline as November 2026 to December 2027. Phase 2 is about ₩140 billion for data and AI infrastructure from 2027 onward, and Robot Newspaper reports that it will go ahead depending on conditions. Treat the headline figure as a two-stage plan, not committed capital: three-quarters of it sits in the conditional phase.

Funding is to combine a regional revitalisation investment fund, policy financing and private capital. The province is considering a direct contribution of up to ₩4 billion. National policy finance has been moving the same way this year; Seoul has put about ₩16 trillion of 2026 policy financing behind six industries including AI and robotics.

Why add a data foundry and an AI inference centre?

Phase 2 adds two pieces of data infrastructure. The first is a “data foundry” to collect, standardise and sell data generated by robots in the field. The second is an AI inference data centre offering inference-model services for robot applications. The logic is that a plant building robots for many customers could also pool their deployment data, which is the input physical-AI models are short of.

The project is the first under Gyeongbuk’s “four future industries foundry” plan. Kyongbuk Ilbo reports that the plan extends to semiconductors and quantum technology in Gumi and pharmaceuticals in Andong. For now, the Pohang deal is an agreement and a groundbreaking date. The first real test is whether outside robot companies place orders once the line exists.