Daedong Group will shift into an AI and robotics company in 2026. Daedong Chairman Kim Joon-sik declared 2026 as the first year of a major shift to an AI and robotics company in a New Year address to employees, the group said on Tuesday. Kim set out a plan to push companywide AX (AI Transformation) and strengthen profit growth.

Kim described 2025 as a year in which sales and operating profit grew together. He said Daedong reaffirmed its strength despite a difficult external environment, including U.S.-China technological rivalry and tariff wars. He cited the start of precision agriculture demonstration work across 1,140,000 pyeong in South Korea and expanded market share in North America and Europe as key achievements.

Daedong has pursued step-by-step innovation in three-year phases since declaring its vision in 2020 to become a leading future agriculture company. From 2020 to 2022, it focused on building a foundation for change and digital transformation (DT). From 2023, it said it has focused on shifting its business toward future businesses and developing core capabilities such as AI and robotics.

From 2026, it will press ahead with a major AI and robotics shift across its business based on capabilities it has prepared. Kim stressed that the AI and robotics shift must not end as a declaration but should lead to real change that increases customers' productivity and profitability in actual agricultural sites and field labor.

Kim set out three key tasks for 2026: AI and robotics product innovation, pushing companywide AX, and making profit growth visible. It will consistently apply future core technologies such as AI precision agriculture, AI, robotics and smart farming to companywide products and services. Its strategy is to focus on linking that to tangible results such as sales and operating profit.

It will also step up AX at the companywide level. Based on a framework comprising BI (Business Innovation), PI (Process Innovation) and WI (Work Innovation), it will expand companywide use of personal AI agents to raise work productivity. It will also strengthen the application of AI across operating processes.

Kim said, "Organizational change is made by execution, not declaration," and urged employees to take bolder action in their roles with an 'haengseung-eoeon (actions speak louder than words)' mindset as the era of accelerating AI and robotics technological revolution continues. He added, "The major AI and robotics shift in 2026 will be a lighthouse that illuminates Daedong's 100-year grand plan," and said, "If all employees join forces, Daedong can move steadily toward its 80th and 100th anniversaries."