The Asian region's development in physical AI is accelerating due to manufacturing capacity. Countries like South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan rely on industrial production and optimized supply chains as the foundation for economic growth. This foundation determines where and how AI technologies develop. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .
Config, a startup based in Seoul and San Jose, is building a data layer for creating Robotic Foundation Models (RFM). The company raised $27 million in a funding round led by Samsung Venture Investment. Major industrial giants such as Hyundai Motor, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America also joined the project as strategic investors.
Config founder Minjoon Seo has experience working at Meta and Twelve Labs. Instead of building robots directly, his team focuses on providing high-quality data necessary for robots to learn and operate. Seo notes that training robots to move is more complex than training text models, as each data unit must be collected through physical processes.
The company compares its operations to TSMC's position in the semiconductor market. Config does not compete with clients like Apple or NVIDIA, but rather provides a data foundation essential for all robot manufacturers. Currently, the startup has already collected over 100,000 hours of human movement data with the help of about 300 employees in Seoul and Hanoi.
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