In the ever-evolving landscape of South Korean industry, a quiet but profound transformation is underway at the very top. The country’s largest conglomerates—led by giants like LG and Samsung—are not just reimagining their business portfolios for the future, but also rethinking what it means to lead. In 2026, as Korea’s economy faces global volatility, industrial shifts, and new societal expectations, both the faces and philosophies of corporate leadership are changing—and the stakes for innovation, social responsibility, and patient lives have never been higher.
At the heart of this transformation stands Koo Kwang-mo, marking his ninth year as chairman of LG Group. Since taking the helm in 2018 at the age of 40, Koo has steered LG through a dramatic overhaul. According to Maeil Ilbo, he boldly divested non-core and underperforming businesses—including fuel cells, OLED lighting, electronic payments, chemical polarizers, and even LG’s once-iconic mobile phone division. These moves freed up both organizational and financial resources, enabling LG to double down on future-facing sectors: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and cleantech—summed up in the group’s new mantra, “ABC.”
“In the era of AI transformation, speed is the most important factor. We must act quickly and accumulate results, even with small steps, rather than waiting for a perfect plan,” Koo declared at a major executive meeting in March 2026, as reported by Maeil Ilbo. And he’s backing those words with action: from 2024 through 2028, LG plans to invest a staggering 100 trillion KRW domestically, with more than half allocated to the ABC sectors.
Nowhere is this ambition clearer than in LG’s push to build a “physical AI ecosystem.” The company’s proprietary large-scale AI models, such as the much-lauded “Exaone 4.5,” have outperformed global competitors, including models from OpenAI and Alibaba, in STEM benchmarks. LG’s AI Research Institute has earned recognition from Stanford University’s Human-Centered AI Institute, with four out of five notable Korean AI models in 2025 coming from LG.
This software prowess is being married to decades of manufacturing expertise. LG Electronics, for example, is establishing the HS Robotics Research Institute by the end of 2025 to develop home robot technologies, aiming for the futuristic “Zero Labor Home.” At CES 2026, LG unveiled the home robot “CLOi,” equipped with Nvidia chips and Google’s Gemini generative AI, showcasing the group’s integration of hardware and software.
Collaboration is another cornerstone. LG Innotek joined forces with Boston Dynamics in May 2025 to co-develop vision sensing modules for the next-generation humanoid robot “Atlas.” Meanwhile, LG CNS has invested in American robotics companies like Skilled AI, Config, and Dexmate, expanding its capabilities for commercializing physical AI—an effort that now spans everything from industrial robots to advanced home assistants.
Biotechnology, too, is a pillar of LG’s future. Recognizing the long gestation periods and risks of new drug development, LG has adopted a dual strategy: long-term investment and early-stage technology licensing. The group now channels 35% of its R&D budget into life sciences. The results are tangible: LG Chem’s life sciences division nearly doubled its revenue over five years since 2021, and its 2025 operating profit rose by 16.4% to 128 billion KRW. The company aims for 1.38 trillion KRW in life sciences sales in 2026, focusing on both blockbuster drugs and promising new candidates.
Global expansion is also in full swing. LG’s 2022 acquisition of U.S.-based Aveo Pharmaceuticals paid off handsomely, with the kidney cancer drug “Fotivda” achieving double-digit growth in sales and prescriptions in North America by 2025. The group’s medical AI, “Exaone Pass,” is being deployed in partnership with U.S. research institutions like Jackson Lab and Vanderbilt Medical Center to accelerate drug discovery and development.
But LG isn’t alone in its pursuit of bio-leadership. The legacy of Samsung’s founder, Lee Byung-chul, whose philosophy was that “a business must help humanity and the nation to truly thrive,” still resonates. As News1 and Maeil Ilbo recount, this ethos was carried forward by Lee Kun-hee, who spearheaded Samsung’s push into biopharmaceuticals, culminating in the global rise of Samsung Biologics as the world’s largest CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization).
Yet, the sector’s rapid ascent has not been without turbulence. In May 2026, Samsung Biologics faced its first-ever strike and an indefinite compliance protest, resulting in losses exceeding 150 billion KRW. The disruption of essential cancer drug supplies triggered national petitions, highlighting the critical, life-or-death importance of uninterrupted biopharmaceutical production. As Lee Joong-baek, head of external cooperation at LG Chem Life Sciences, wrote as a policy expert, “Medicines are not just consumer goods. Disruption in supply threatens the survival of patients waiting for treatment.” There are growing calls, echoed in Maeil Ilbo, to revise labor laws so that biopharmaceutical production is classified as essential work, balancing workers’ rights with the inviolable right to life for patients.
Meanwhile, the cleantech revolution is gathering pace. Koo Kwang-mo’s visit to Massachusetts in March 2026 to inspect LG’s energy storage system (ESS) subsidiary, Vertech, underscored the group’s commitment to energy infrastructure. Amid rising global demand for renewable energy and storage—exacerbated by geopolitical shocks like the U.S.-Iran conflict—LG Energy Solution has converted five North American sites for ESS production, aiming to triple sales by 2027 and reach 60 GWh in capacity. New plants in Lansing, Ohio, and Tennessee will further expand LG’s reach, as the group leverages its unique position as the only company with local production and supply infrastructure in North America.
This expertise is being bundled into comprehensive B2B solutions for the mobility and AI data center (AIDC) markets. LG’s VS Business Division, for instance, achieved record sales exceeding 11 trillion KRW in 2025, with an annual growth rate of about 20%. The company now boasts an order backlog of around 100 trillion KRW from eight of the world’s top ten automakers—including Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia, and GM—representing a combined market share of 55%. LG Innotek is developing advanced autonomous driving sensors, targeting 5 trillion KRW in mobility sales by 2030. And with a massive 200 MW AI data center set to open in Paju in 2027, LG is poised to become a major player in the global AIDC market, projected to reach $60.5 billion by 2030.
Behind these corporate strategies lies a broader shift in leadership style across Korea’s top firms. According to a News1 analysis of the top 500 Korean companies, 2026 has seen a marked rise in veteran, technology- and production-experienced CEOs. The average age of CEOs rose to 60, up from 59.1 in 2023, with many new appointments coming from within the companies—84.5% of CEOs are now internal promotions. R&D and production backgrounds are increasingly favored, while the share of sales, marketing, and finance executives at the top has declined. Even at LG, this trend is visible: LG Electronics appointed Ryu Jae-cheol, a 30-year home appliance veteran, as CEO, and LG Chem chose Kim Dong-chun, with deep experience in advanced materials.
Women are also making incremental gains in the C-suite, with 14 female CEOs in 2026, including Kim Jung-ah at Innocean and Lee Seon-joo at LG Household & Health Care. The country’s elite universities—Seoul National, Korea, and Yonsei—still dominate the educational backgrounds of top executives, though the balance is shifting slightly among them.
As South Korean industry stands at a crossroads, the convergence of bold investment, technological innovation, and socially conscious leadership is shaping a new era. The future belongs to those who can blend speed with responsibility, vision with pragmatism, and above all, the relentless drive to serve both business and society.