South Korea’s Battery Giants Are Betting Big on AI. Can Siemens Help Them Win?

Ask any battery executive in South Korea what keeps them up at night, and the answer probably isn’t raw materials or factory capacity anymore. It’s productivity. It’s speed. And increasingly, it’s artificial intelligence.

LG Energy Solution wants to boost productivity by 50% by 2028. SK On is building its own AI foundation model from the ground up. Samsung SDI is weaving digital twins and AI into battery development and safety management. The message couldn’t be clearer: in the race to dominate global battery production, AI isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the new battleground.

And Siemens, the German industrial giant, is positioning itself right in the middle of it.

A Five-Year Partnership That’s About to Get Deeper

Siemens’ relationship with Korean battery manufacturers isn’t new. Over the past four to five years, as domestic producers accelerated digital transformation and expanded overseas production facilities, Siemens supplied SCADA systems to integrate monitoring and control across battery production lines. It also provided its PCS 7 distributed control system (DCS), enabling precise process control from raw material input through materials production.

But that was then. Now, the company is rolling out something far more ambitious.

Enter the Eigen Engineering Agent: Automation That Speaks Korean

Unveiled this April, Siemens’ Eigen Engineering Agent is designed specifically for factory automation—but with a twist that matters enormously for Korean engineers. Instead of wrestling with complex coding languages, engineers can simply describe manufacturing processes in Korean. The AI platform then automatically generates programmable logic controller (PLC) code that operates equipment directly, along with human-machine interface (HMI) screens used by operators to monitor and control machinery.

What makes this different from the generic AI tools flooding the market? The Eigen Engineering Agent understands project-specific design architectures, component relationships, and customer standards. Tasks that once took new engineers weeks to grasp—mapping out project structures, deciphering legacy systems—can now be completed in days. According to Siemens, the solution delivers two- to five-fold improvements in work speed and boosts engineering efficiency by roughly 50% compared with manual processes.

“South Korea is a key hub driving innovation in the battery industry,” said Arndt Zipfel, head of Siemens’ global battery vertical business. “We are confident that we can expand collaboration with Korean companies across areas ranging from AI and digital twins to next-generation factory automation.”

From Raw Materials to Recycling—and Everything In Between

Siemens’ ambitions in Korea extend far beyond a single product. The company’s solutions can be applied across the entire battery supply chain: raw materials processing, battery cells, modules, packs, factory logistics, and even recycling operations. “There is virtually no area of the battery value chain where Siemens solutions are absent,” noted Woo Tae-gil, vice president and head of battery industry sales at Siemens Korea’s Digital Industries division.

But What About the EV Slowdown?

Here’s the counterintuitive part. Investment in Korea’s battery sector has temporarily slowed due to weaker electric vehicle demand. So why is Siemens doubling down now?

Because another wave is already building. Rapid growth in AI data center construction has emerged as a new driver for energy storage system (ESS) demand. And Siemens believes the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries could trigger yet another major growth phase for the industry.

The company recently hosted its first dedicated offline conference for Korean battery customers—the Siemens Battery Conference 2026 in Seoul—drawing strong participation from leading domestic companies. The message Siemens is sending? We’re not just watching this market evolve. We’re helping shape it.

The Bigger Question

As Korean battery manufacturers race to embed AI into every corner of their operations, the real question isn’t whether they’ll succeed—it’s who will help them get there fastest. Siemens is making a compelling case that the answer is a partner who not only understands automation, but speaks the language of the engineers on the factory floor.

Literally.