Visitors take photos of the CLOiD humanoid home robot developed by LG Electronics at LG Energy Solution's exhibition booth during the InterBattery 2026 trade show at COEX in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
Exhibition halls at the InterBattery 2026 trade show in Seoul were packed Wednesday with visitors from around the world, underscoring continued international interest in Korea’s battery industry despite a lingering slowdown in the electric vehicle (EV) market.
The absence of the industry minister and the CEOs of Korea’s top three battery manufacturers, however, also reflected the ongoing challenges in the sector, which is struggling with both an EV supply glut and dominance of Chinese companies.
Trade, Industry and Resources Vice Minister Moon Shin-hak warned that Korea’s battery industry has only five to seven years left to overcome the current crisis.
“We can strengthen our competitiveness before our European and U.S. rivals secure enough production capacity,” he said in his opening remarks for the three-day event.
Korea Battery Industry Association Chairman and POSCO Future M CEO Eom Gi-chen told reporters that growth in markets for energy storage systems (ESS), humanoid robots and data centers for artificial intelligence (AI) is outpacing the slowdown in global EV demand.
To highlight such emerging applications, the event’s organizer opened a dedicated booth for humanoid robots this year and scheduled a seminar Friday on Korea-United States cooperation in battery technologies for the defense industry.
Korea’s major battery firms also showcased technologies for robots and ESS.
At LG Energy Solution’s booth, the CLOiD humanoid home robot developed by LG Electronics greeted visitors alongside the Carti100 autonomous mobile robot (AMR) made by Bear Robotics, an LG Electronics subsidiary.
The company also displayed its JF2 DC LINK 5.0 system to promote its use of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the system, which it touts as optimized for Korea’s energy infrastructure and regulations.
Source: Korea Times News
