"I work as a production worker at a secondary battery factory, but I've never seen Fork Robotics. It was fascinating, so I watched it for quite a while."
On the 11th at the InterBattery 2026 expo held at COEX in Gangnam District, Seoul, a person surnamed Kim (45) whom we met in front of JASTECH's exhibition booth for secondary battery equipment said this.
Industry officials flocked around the automated logistics robot "AMR (autonomous mobile robot)" placed at JASTECH's booth to take photos or have a look. Kim also spent quite a while touring the venue while filming the robot with a smartphone.
JASTECH, a display and secondary battery equipment company, is emerging as a Robotics company. To strengthen its robot business focused on logistics, the company plans to change its name to "JAS Robotics" next month.
Kim Seong-hwan, an executive director at JASTECH whom we met at the expo that day, said, "The key is automation equipment technology using robot technology," and noted, "Robotics automation is becoming an important 'keyword' of our business, so we plan to change the company name accordingly."
This is the most fundamental change among the business transitions JASTECH has undergone so far. Kim said, "In 2017, while doing the display OLED business, we even achieved sales of $500 million, but it is true that performance was sluggish for a while due to market contraction and business transitions," adding, "Starting with this name change, we expect to respond to the changing market and grow."
On the 12th, JASTECH will announce the name change and key future business plans through a corporate briefing and will also address the agenda at the shareholders meeting scheduled for the 26th.
JASTECH's "AMR (autonomous mobile robot)" began research and development two years ago and was developed in-house starting from the software. The company is currently discussing supply with domestic and overseas secondary battery factories, and it will also be used at JASTECH's secondary battery plant. Kim said, "Secondary battery plants need logistics robots to achieve efficiency," and added, "AMR is an autonomous transport robot that will be used in secondary battery or logistics factories."
Last year, JASTECH's sales on a consolidation basis came to 30.6 billion won, down 52% from a year earlier, and the company posted an operating loss of 23.6 billion won.
Although the company is currently in the red, performance is expected to improve going forward. Until last year, it focused on research and development of logistics robots and the like, so results did not materialize, but orders for logistics robots have been increasing since late last year.
Kim said, "Last year, we focused on developing technologies such as AMR and building the business model," adding, "We have also been making many order disclosures since the end of last year, and it seems that is now beginning to bear fruit."
Kim also said, "Once the equipment and technology become known, a positive perception of the company will take hold," adding, "If the business we are preparing now comes to the forefront, I think an appropriate valuation of the company will be made and the share price may find its proper level."
Despite sluggish results, JASTECH decided on a year-end dividend of 50 won per share on the 25th of last month. Kim explained, "When profits were high, we once paid 300 won per share in dividends," adding, "Although we posted a loss last year, we decided on the dividend to return value to shareholders."