Al and robotics – is the hype for real?

Research evidence excerpt

Al and robotics – is the hype for real?

Idea

June 22, 2026 04:13 PM GMT

Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, Seoul Branch+MS. Korea IT Services and Software | Asia Pacific Seyon Park

Equity Analyst

AI and robotics – is the hype for Seyon.Park@morganstanley.comSohyun Park +82 2 399-4936

Sohyun.Park@morganstanley.com +82 2 399-4872

real?

We see growing demand for data centers and implementation of

AI software as tangible medium-term tailwinds for Korea's IT

Service companies. We see significant TAM potential for robotics S. Korea IT Services and Software

software – but whether Korean players will be relevant remains Asia Pacific

Industry View In-Line

to be proven.

What’s Changed

Korea's IT Service stocks have shown amplified share price volatility in recent Samsung SDS (018260.KS) From To

Price Target W250,000 W270,000

weeks, driven by thematic interest and liquidity: Combined market cap for Korea's

big three IT Service companies – Samsung SDS OW), LG CNS (EW), and Hyundai LG CNS Co Ltd (064400.KS) From To

Price Target W68,000 W80,000

Autoever (Not Covered) – expanded from W35tn as of mid-May to W67tn on June 1

but fell back to W42tn as of yesterday's close. This amplified volatility appears to

have come from a combination of themes (AI, robotics, data centers, etc.), fueled by

ample market liquidity combined with retail animal spirits.

We believe AI data centers and the AI enterprise software installation cycle are

valid themes: On June 8, Naver announced that it is entering the neocloud business

in partnership with Nvidia. We see this signaling a broader build-out of AIDCs in

Korea, giving more conviction in the data center theme. Earlier this month, the

Samsung Group announced adoption of external AI services across all functions. We