Hyundai Motor Group will invest 125.2 trillion won over five years through 2030 in Korea's artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and hydrogen industries. It is the largest domestic investment in the group's history. The group also decided to take the lead in stabilizing the automotive industry ecosystem, including fully covering this year's U.S.-bound tariff for first-tier partners of Hyundai Motor and Kia.
On the 16th, Hyundai Motor Group announced the plan after a joint public-private meeting following up on the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations chaired by President Lee Jae-myung concluded. After the Korea-U.S. tariff talks were settled on the 29th, lowering the U.S. auto tariff to 15% from 25%, Chair Chung Eui-sun said, "We received great help from the nation this time, and we will surely repay the favor," and has now answered with a large-scale investment.
The 125.2 trillion won Hyundai Motor Group will invest domestically over five years from 2026 to 2030 is the largest ever. Compared with the previous five years (2021–2025), when it invested 89.1 trillion won, the amount rose by 36.1 trillion won. It translates to an average annual investment of 25.04 trillion won, more than 40% higher than the previous five-year average (17.8 trillion won).
By type, 50.5 trillion won will be put into future new businesses. The plan is to cement a foundation for sustained growth by making strategic investments in AI, SDV (software-defined vehicle), electrification, Robotics, and hydrogen.
It earmarked 38.5 trillion won for research and development (R&D), including a rear-wheel-based hybrid system, to continuously strengthen competitiveness in the existing mobility industry, and 36.2 trillion won for capital expenditures. The "Global Business Complex (GBC)," an integrated headquarters building to be created in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, will begin construction as soon as the city's permitting procedures are completed.
It also decided to further solidify Korea's status as a core production hub for mobility. Hyundai Motor Group will diversify export regions for domestic complete vehicle plants and foster domestic EV-only plants as global mother factories and export bases. Hyundai Motor plans to complete its EV-only plant in Ulsan next year. Through this, it aims to increase domestic complete vehicle exports from 2.18 million units last year to 2.47 million units in 2030, and to more than double electrified vehicle exports from 690,000 units last year to 1.76 million units in 2030.
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "This large-scale, mid- to long-term domestic investment decision is aimed at securing the group's fundamental growth engine," adding, "By strengthening Korea's status as a global Mobility Innovation hub and fostering the AI and robotics industries and the green energy ecosystem, it will also play a major role in boosting the national economy's vitality."
◇ Building a large-scale AI data center… reviewing creation of a hydrogen AI new city
In particular, this investment focuses on fostering the domestic AI and robotics industries and revitalizing regional economies by developing the green energy ecosystem.
First, it plans to push for construction of a high-power "AI data center." The AI data center will secure a petabyte (PB)-level data repository capable of storing AI training data generated by physical AI robots (which collect data through sensors and cameras and make decisions and act on their own) and self-driving cars.
It will also push to establish the "Hyundai Motor Group Physical AI Application Center," which will be responsible for developing the physical AI ecosystem. There, it will verify the completeness and safety of robots through AI and conduct final reliability checks before deployment at actual industrial sites.
Based on the customized robot technologies thus secured, it will also create a "robot finished product manufacturing and foundry plant." This expands the business scope to not only producing its own robot products but also contract manufacturing as a foundry for small and midsize enterprises' products. Through this, it will actively support R&D by parts partners in the field of robot components.
It will also invest in developing electrolyzers for green hydrogen production. Hyundai Motor Group will build a 1-gigawatt (GW) polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis plant in the southwest region, which has abundant renewable energy, and establish related infrastructure such as a hydrogen shipping center and charging stations nearby. It will also build manufacturing facilities for PEM electrolyzers and Hydrogen Fuel Cell components and foster them as global export industries.
Hyundai Motor Group will actively review investments to create a hydrogen AI new city that integrates key new technologies such as AI, hydrogen, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X), in consultation with the central government and local governments.
In addition, it will continue to invest in upgrading production lines at existing complete vehicle and parts plants over the next five years to introduce dozens of new models. Hyundai Steel will invest hundreds of billions of won to improve blast furnace efficiency, and Hyundai Engineering will expand installation of infrastructure such as charging stations nationwide to address EV charging blind spots.
◇ Full support for this year's U.S.-bound tariff for first-tier partners
Hyundai Motor Group decided to retroactively and fully cover the U.S.-bound tariff that first-tier partners of Hyundai Motor and Kia actually bear this year. It will support them by reflecting the actual tariff borne in the process of supplying parts and other items to Hyundai Motor Group's U.S. production entities (HMGMA, including the Hyundai Alabama plant and the Kia Georgia plant) in the purchase price.
The total support amount will be finalized after aggregating the export performance of first-tier partners going forward. A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "Support for the U.S.-bound tariff will provide practical help in securing operating funds and improving liquidity for partners and will greatly contribute to stabilizing partners' management."
For more than 5,000 second- and third-tier small and midsize partners with no direct transactions, Hyundai Motor Group will develop new support programs to strengthen global competitiveness and stabilize the domestic automotive industry ecosystem, and will also expand the scale of support.
In addition, to stabilize the domestic automotive industry supply chain, it will support partners' purchases of raw materials, securing of operating funds, and repayment of interest. It will also promote a variety of programs to strengthen global competitiveness for developing overseas sales channels and expanding exports.
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "We plan to contribute to boosting Korea's economic vitality through the largest-ever mid- to long-term domestic investments and constant innovation," adding, "We will expand support for partners' tariffs and win-win cooperation programs to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic automotive industry."