Korea launches K Connect AI to link five trade shows under one AI theme

The industry ministry said Tuesday it has launched K Connect AI, a project that links five of South Korea's largest trade shows under a single artificial intelligence theme.

The five shows will run over roughly one month: the Korea Electronics Show from Oct. 13 to 16 and the Semiconductor Exhibition from Oct. 14 to 16, both at COEX in Seoul, followed at KINTEX by the Industrial AI Expo and the Asia Machinery & Manufacturing Industry Exhibition from Oct. 21 to 23, and RoboWorld from Nov. 4 to 7. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is the host, with KOTRA, the Korea Electronics Association, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association and the Korea Display Industry Association among six organizations jointly running the program.

K Connect AI, making its debut this year, is intended to draw opening ceremonies, international conferences, special pavilions and export consultations into one program running across the month, covering both advanced industries and consumer sectors such as food and cosmetics.

The opening ceremony was held Oct. 13 alongside the Korea Electronics Show 2026 and the Electronics and IT Day commemoration, with officials including the ministry's trade and investment chief, Kang Gam-chan, KOTRA President Kang Kyung-sung, Korea Electronics Association Chairman Yong Seok-woo and Consumer Technology Association Chairman Kinsey Fabrizio in attendance. The five participating exhibition organizers held a cooperation ceremony, and the CTA will host CES Asia Unveiled Seoul during the electronics show to preview CES 2027.

"Exhibitions are now evolving beyond places that simply display and trade products into business platforms that connect technology and companies, industries and markets, expanding exports and innovating industry," Kang said.

An international conference will be held Oct. 21 at the KINTEX Grand Ballroom, bringing together academics and executives from global companies to discuss manufacturing AI trends. Raffaello D'Andrea of ETH Zurich and Hyundai Motor Group President Park Min-woo will give a keynote and hold a dialogue on spreading the manufacturing AI ecosystem, while executives from IBM, Qualcomm and POSCO are due to join afternoon sessions on AI factories, industrial and physical AI, autonomous manufacturing and how global manufacturers are using AI.

A K Connect AI special pavilion will let visitors try AI applications in person, with demonstrations of AI factories, AI distribution and logistics systems and humanoid robots. About 130 overseas buyers in the industrial AI field have been invited to export consultations tied to the five shows, and will receive a pre-matched list of companies generated with AI solutions.

At the 21st Electronics and IT Day ceremony held alongside the opening, 41 people received government awards. Kim Young-jae, chairman of Daeduck Electronics, received the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit, and Cho Ji-tae, a managing director at LG Innotek, received the Silver Tower order.

"Through the launch of K Connect AI, we will build a business platform that leads innovation in our industries and continues to drive the era of $1 trillion in exports, and foster it into a global exhibition representing Korea," Kang said.