Daedong Gear plans a 30,000-set actuator joint venture in China with EYOU, aiming for Korean mass production in 2029

Daedong Gear, a Korean maker of gears and reducers, has signed a memorandum with Chinese joint-module maker EYOU Robot Technology to set up a joint venture in China by January 2027, the company announced on Oct. 29. The venture plans a line that can build 30,000 robot actuator sets a year, in planetary-reducer and harmonic-reducer versions.

Daedong is going to China to learn, and the numbers show it. EYOU shipped about 95,000 joint modules in 2025 and expects to sell about 1.1 million sets this year, according to Etoday and Robot Newspaper. Market researcher GGII ranks it first in China for harmonic joint modules in humanoid robots, and Robot Newspaper describes it as AgiBot's main actuator supplier. At full capacity, the venture's line would make under 3% of what EYOU expects to sell in 2026.

The division of work points the same way. Daedong Gear brings reducers, product design and quality checks. EYOU brings motor design, drive and control, and assembly and testing: the parts that turn a gearbox into a working joint. Sister company Daedong Robotics supplies the motions and loads of farm work.

The first customer is in the family. A first-generation actuator range is due in the first half of 2027, the same target Daedong Robotics has set for AgroID, an agricultural humanoid it plans to test on its Taean farm. From 2028 the venture's output goes into Daedong's farm robots and to outside buyers. In 2029 Daedong Gear starts mass production in Korea and leaves the venture to make and sell in China. CEO Seo Jong-hwan said the aim is to build manufacturing and quality skills in China early "and connect them to mass production in Korea."

The same week, Korea Economic Daily reported that Boston Dynamics wants an almost entirely Korean parts list for 10,000 Atlas robots, partly to stay out of a humanoid market Chinese makers dominate. Daedong is betting that the fastest route to a Korean actuator runs through a Chinese factory.