The Yangi Avlod Special Industrial Zone near Tashkent, Uzbekistan, has emerged as a testing ground for the K-Physical artificial intelligence (AI) data hub. RoboTis, a pioneering Korean robotics company, has launched plans to establish a Physical AI Data Factory in Uzbekistan, integrating humanoid robot and component manufacturing with an AI data center.
Actuator Factory + Data Center… Securing Both Manufacturing and Data Simultaneously
Industry sources reported on Wednesday that RoboTis officially unveiled its strategy to utilize Uzbekistan as its first overseas manufacturing and data hub during the groundbreaking ceremony for its actuator production facility, held last month in Yangi Avlod.
According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIIT), the company plans to invest 70 million USD to secure an annual production capacity of 300,000 actuators on a 10-hectare site. The goal is to scale up to over 5 million units by 2031.
RoboTis aims to mass-produce key humanoid components, including actuators, locally while collecting and processing data generated by humanoids operating in real factory, logistics, and service environments. This data will be used for AI training. The company’s strategy involves combining the production line with a data labeling center to reliably secure the real-world data crucial for physical AI learning.
Uzbek Government Offers Incentives, Including Free Land
The Uzbek government’s support is seen as a key factor in enhancing the project’s economic viability. The Deputy Prime Minister has designated this as a national strategic project, providing approximately 66,000 square meters (about 710,418 square feet) of land at virtually no cost, along with tax benefits and various incentives.
RoboTis is accelerating its Uzbekistan project. Following its announcement of plans to establish an overseas manufacturing plant through a 100 billion KRW (about 67 million USD) capital increase, the company is set to acquire 100% of its Uzbekistan subsidiary, ROBOTIS LLC, for about 29.4 billion KRW (about 19.7 million USD) by the end of June this year.
The Uzbekistan data factory has entered a test operation phase ahead of its official launch in the fourth quarter. RoboTis has already hired over 100 local employees to gather behavioral data in factory, logistics, and service environments using its humanoid platform, AI Worker.
The company has developed an ambitious long-term employment plan to increase local personnel to 2,000 by 2028 and up to 20,000 by 2031, linking the data factory and actuator production plant. Half of the workforce will focus on collecting and processing physical AI data.
LG Electronics Explores Investment in RoboTis’s Uzbekistan Plant
On June 22, RoboTis signed a memorandum of understanding with LG Electronics regarding equity investment in the Uzbekistan manufacturing plant. LG Electronics, currently the second-largest shareholder with a 6.56% stake, is considering further investment in RoboTis’s Uzbekistan facility.
The two companies have agreed to collaborate on joint technology development and research in the field of humanoid robots, including RoboTis’s recently announced AI Sapien.
An industry insider commented that as RoboTis expands its actuator production capacity and integrates its data platform business into its revenue stream, the company could see a significant reevaluation of its corporate value as a leading physical AI platform enterprise.