What strategies are companies formulating to respond to the industrial restructuring triggered by AI (artificial intelligence)?
The answer to this question can be found one week from now at Hall B of COEX in Seoul Gangnam-gu. The second day of ‘Smart Energy Plus (SEP) 2026,’ co-hosted by Money Today and COEX and organized by the National Assembly Hydrogen Economy Forum, is scheduled to feature a conference with key executives from major domestic companies over two days and one night, starting on the 29th.
On the 29th, the focus will be on how AI is transforming the semiconductor industry. Han Jae-jun, Master at Samsung Electronics’ AX/PI Center, will examine the trend of AI emerging as a technology that determines competitiveness in semiconductor R&D (research and development) and manufacturing, while Choi Jun-yong, Vice President of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) Business Planning at SK Hynix, will emphasize the importance of memory and power efficiency in the AI era. It is expected to offer insights into the future business directions of Samsung Electronics, which is expanding AI applications from design to production, and SK Hynix, which is focused on enhancing the performance and power efficiency of HBM.
The expansion of AI into the real world, known as ‘Physical AI,’ will also be explored. Kim Young-hoon, Head of the Robotics Business Division at Hyundai Motor’s Robotics Lab, stated in a pre-interview with Money Today that “the on-site application of robots is determined by power efficiency and charging time,” while Yoon Il-yong, Director of the AI Robotics Convergence Research Institute at POSCO Holdings’ Future Technology Research Institute, previewed his presentation by saying, “We are advancing equipment automation by combining Physical AI with control technology.”
Additionally, Lee Gwang-won, Head of the Applied Business Division at LG Electronics, will introduce solutions such as chillers and Cooling Distribution Units (CDUs) to address heat generation from GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), while Kim Hee-seong, Chairman of Bright Energy Partners, plans to present the role of renewable energy in the AI era.
On the 30th, the three major domestic battery companies (LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On) will reveal their respective strategies for tackling the ESS (Energy Storage System) market. Kim Hyeon-tae, Head of ESS Product Planning and Jeon Ryak-dam-dang (SVP) at LG Energy Solution, is expected to emphasize that “software capabilities such as maintenance and management are a key competitive advantage,” citing the situation where battery competition has entered a ‘second half’ focused on reducing operating costs.
Hyun Chang-seok, Head of the Global TPM1 Team at Samsung SDI, will analyze the trend of expanding the role of ESS, stating that “as we enter the era of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), the structure of power demand is changing rapidly.” Chae Dae-jin, Head of the ESS Business Division at SK On, will present plans to expand the ESS business by leveraging opportunities such as AI data centers and non-China supply chain demands on a global scale, including in North America.
Changes in the power equipment market will also be examined. In a pre-interview, Ok Kyung-seok, Executive Officer at HD Hyundai Electric, stated that “transformer demand will settle into a ‘new normal’ beyond a ‘super cycle,’” while Kim Seong-yeop, Representative Director of OCI Power, predicted that “renewable energy and ESS will play a key role in mitigating rapid fluctuations in power load.”
Separate from the main conference, an ‘Open Stage’ forum has also been arranged. A special session on SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) will be held from 2 p.m. on the 28th, and the ‘2026 AI Infrastructure Frontier Conference’ will take place from 10:30 a.m. on the 29th. Admission to this series of conferences is free for those who pre-register through the ‘SEP 2026’ homepage.
in INDUSTRY
