LG now builds its CLOiD robots itself in Seoul, after AgiBot and Robostar made the first ones

LG Electronics is now building its CLOiD semi-humanoid itself, at the data factory on its former Yangjae R&D campus in Seoul, ZDNet Korea reported on Oct. 31, citing people in the robot industry. Until now outside companies made the robot: China's AgiBot built about 20 at LG's request in the second half of last year, and Robostar, an industrial robot maker in which LG holds 33.4%, took over in the first half of this year. "Robostar made CLOiD this year, but it isn't making them now," one industry source told ZDNet Korea.

The move says less about manufacturing than it seems. The robots are not in mass production, and they appear to be assembled by hand rather than on factory equipment, according to ZDNet Korea. They go straight into the data factory, where CLOiD robots clean a mock home and move and assemble parts on a copy of LG's Tennessee washing-machine line; LG said in August it would raise the number of robots there to the hundreds by the end of the year. Building CLOiD in Yangjae makes it an instrument for LG's robot training data. Whether LG can sell a humanoid at a competitive price will be settled elsewhere.

The cost question sits in Changwon

That place is Changwon, where LG built an actuator pilot line in the first half. In the second half it has been automating the line and improving quality to prepare for mass production, while pitching potential customers worldwide, ZDNet Korea reported. Actuators make up more than half of a humanoid's manufacturing cost. "Buying actuators from outside isn't cost-competitive, so LG will go the in-house route," another industry source said; hands could still come from LG Innotek, which develops robot hands for the group, or from other suppliers.

Compute is next. LG will use NVIDIA chips in the short term and develop its own in the medium to long term, the same source said, arguing that an in-house humanoid chip could give a 30% to 40% advantage in manufacturing cost.

The CES timetable explains the first outsourcing. LG decided to unveil CLOiD at CES 2026 with only about six months to prepare, ZDNet Korea reported, so it turned to AgiBot, in which LG and Mirae Asset invested last year. In August, LG described the CLOiDs in its data factory as robots it had built and validated itself.

The open question is who builds the next one. LG is developing a bipedal humanoid with NVIDIA that it aims to unveil in the first quarter of next year, Seoul Economic Daily reported, and an industry source told ZDNet Korea that LG is likely to keep making its humanoids itself.