We are doing all the businesses related to physical artificial intelligence (AI), including optics, packages, and mobility. We are building our business as a "solution provider" that offers software, not just sells parts.
Moon Hyuk-soo, president of LG Innotek, met with reporters at the "CES 2026" exhibition booth set up at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) on the 7th local time and said, "This year, we will drive a restructuring of our business structure centered on high-profit, high–value-added businesses by putting forward solutions that provide differentiated value," and stated accordingly. CES 2026, held in Las Vegas from the 6th to the 9th, is the world's largest IT exhibition.
After taking office as chief executive officer (CEO) in Dec. 2023, Moon was promoted from executive vice president to president through personnel changes at the end of last year. As the company focused on advancing its business portfolio, profitability improved significantly in substrates (package solutions) and vehicle components (mobility solutions), and meaningful results began to emerge in new businesses such as robots and LiDAR, which are cited as the background for the promotion.
Asked how he felt about the promotion, Moon said he thinks "the work is the same," but added, "My sense of responsibility has grown, and I will accelerate growth so the company's standing within the group can rise further." He continued, "The business direction remains the same," adding, "Our core competencies in sensors, substrates, and control components are used in smartphones as well as cars, drones, Humanoid Robot, and satellites. We are focused on laying the groundwork to supply LG Innotek solutions to products that will go into mass production going forward by broadening our customer base."
Moon said this year's management will focus on settling the business structure of the "High Performance Portfolio." "We will strategically allocate company-wide resources to grow high-profit, high–value-added businesses and enhance our fundamental competitiveness," he said. He added, "We will also accelerate the fostering of new businesses to secure clear growth engines," and said, "We will secure 'winning tech' that can prevail in markets such as Autonomous Driving composite sensing and glass substrates, and accelerate the AI transformation (AX) to strengthen both competitiveness improvements and the foundation for future growth at the same time."
◇ "We will become a solution company that can meet customer needs"
In an organizational restructuring last December, Moon changed the names of the substrate materials business division and the vehicle components business division to the package solutions business division and the mobility solutions business division, respectively. Moon said, "The business model of developing our own parts and winning bids from customers is losing competitiveness," adding, "Based on the innovative technologies and product lineup we have accumulated so far, LG Innotek aims to shift its business paradigm to a corporations that provides optimal 'solutions' that can meet customer needs." He said, "We will shift from a simple parts supplier to a 'solution provider' corporations."
LG Innotek is expanding its business scope by converging and combining its existing parts or even developing integrated software that controls these parts. The company aims to achieve performance growth by addressing customers' inconveniences, complaints, and difficulties—"pain points."
Moon said, "The exhibition booth we set up at this CES 2026 also actively reflects this direction, and we displayed products in solution units," adding, "A representative example is the 'Autonomous Driving composite sensing solution,' which we showcased as an integrated solution that includes not only vehicle camera modules but also LiDAR and radar and the software linked to them." LG Innotek has 16 kinds of products that can be installed in self-driving cars. He said the exhibition showed how synergy can be created when these products are applied in an integrated manner.
Moon said, "At this year's CES, together with LG Innotek partners, we met many car and robot companies," adding, "In particular, for robots, I think the timeline for commercialization will approach very quickly, so we should hasten efforts to strengthen related businesses."
◇ "Semiconductor substrates will enter a state of maximum production"
Along with cars and robots, Moon cited the "package solutions" business as a new growth area. The package solutions business is considered LG Innotek's "cash cow" because it has the highest profitability relative to sales scale. As premium smartphones become more powerful, demand is increasing for high-performance, high-density mobile semiconductor substrates. LG Innotek is responding to the market with its own products such as RF system-in-package (RF-SiP), flip chip chip-scale package (FC-CSP), and flip chip ball grid array package (FC-BGA).
Moon said, "Demand for semiconductor package substrates is expected to continue to increase for the time being," adding, "The utilization rate of LG Innotek's semiconductor substrate production is also at its peak, so we expect to enter a Max Capa state." He added, "We are reviewing various ways to expand package solutions production capacity to meet demand."
Moon said the goal is to raise the operating profit contribution of this institutional sector to the level of the current flagship optics solutions business in the mid to long term by expanding the high-profit package solutions business. As of the third quarter of last year, LG Innotek's cumulative sales in the package solutions business were 1.2308 trillion won, up 14.3% from a year earlier. Cumulative operating profit was 80.2 billion won, up 65% from the same period a year earlier. It was tallied that more than 20% of total operating profit came from the package solutions business.
Moon said, "The mobility solutions business will continue its profitability-focused management and accelerate the establishment of a business structure centered on high profits."
◇ "Glass substrates and robotics are being fostered as future growth industries"
Moon said the company is also focusing on the "glass substrate" and "robot" industries to secure future growth drivers. Semiconductor glass substrates are drawing attention as a key material that can solve problems in the packaging field, which has reached its technical limits in the AI era. As more high-efficiency, high-density, high-performance semiconductors are needed, the size of the packaging substrates that implement them is also growing. Packaging substrates made of widely used plastic (organic) materials become warped as their size increases, which degrades semiconductor performance. Glass is being evaluated as a material that can increase the size of semiconductor substrates without such deformation.
Moon said, "In the case of glass substrates, the industry's technical capabilities have not yet advanced to the level the market expects," adding, "Solving the problem of glass cracking due to larger substrate areas and stacking is a common task for the industry, and the party that solves it first will lead the glass substrate market." He added, "We are currently working with global big tech companies to develop glass substrate prototypes, and we are also speeding up glass substrate development through collaborative synergies with affiliates within LG Group."
LG Innotek has set a goal of mass-producing glass substrate prototypes in 2028 in collaboration with big tech companies. Moon said, "Last year, LG Innotek completed the introduction of equipment for glass substrate development at the Magok research and development (R&D) center, and we are improving quality and reliability by applying the build-up technology secured through our FC-BGA mass production experience in Gumi to glass substrates," adding, "This year as well, we will continue R&D and investment for glass substrate development."
Robotics was the most closely watched field at this year's CES. Moon said, "For the robot sensing parts business, mass production started this year, and the sales scale is in the tens of billions of won," adding, "Based on LG Innotek's unrivaled original technologies in sensing, substrates, and control, we will continue to identify robot solution areas that can deliver outstanding customer value and proceed with commercialization reviews."
Last year, LG Innotek worked with Boston Dynamics in the United States to develop a robot "vision sensing system." The company also formed a separate robotics task under the chief technology officer (CTO) dedicated to developing robot components. Moon said, "In the robotics industry, we will keep open various possibilities such as external collaboration and investment."