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NAMUGA, a camera module manufacturer, is set to supply camera modules to a global humanoid robotics company. The supply agreement has been finalized, and the company is currently preparing for mass production.
This marks NAMUGA's first major customer acquisition in the robotics sector, representing a significant milestone for a company that has historically relied on Samsung Electronics for nearly 99% of its total revenue.
NAMUGA CEO Don Lee disclosed the development on October 16 during the "Semiconductors Powering Humanoids" conference hosted by THE ELEC at COEX in Seoul. While the company did not disclose the customer's identity or the scale of the supply agreement, THE ELEC has confirmed through its reporting that the customers are a global automotive group and its U.S.-based humanoid robotics subsidiary.
NAMUGA currently supplies camera modules for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy smartphones and robot vacuum cleaners. Of its KRW 459.9 billion in consolidated revenue last year, camera modules accounted for KRW 459.1 billion. Samsung Electronics represented 99% of its customer-based revenue in both 2024 and 2025.
During the conference, Lee outlined the company's ambition to achieve KRW 1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, positioning robotics and factory automation as its new growth engines.
"Factory automation represents the largest demand opportunity for Physical AI," Lee said. "Following the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), we aim to become a specialized sensor company leading the Sensor of Things (SoT) era, where sensors play a central role."
Humanoid robots must do more than simply perceive their surroundings. They need to determine distances to obstacles and recognize the positions and shapes of objects. To achieve this, humanoids employ conventional RGB cameras alongside stereo cameras, which use two cameras to perceive depth, and Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors, which measure distances using reflected light.
According to Lee, a single humanoid robot typically requires eight RGB cameras positioned around its head and five to six ToF sensors near its joints. Factory automation robots, meanwhile, are expected to incorporate eight RGB cameras and two to four ToF sensors.
In factory automation, NAMUGA plans to collaborate with its affiliate, AIMATICS. NAMUGA will be responsible for camera modules and 3D sensors, while AIMATICS will provide video analytics software.
Target applications include Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for material transportation within factories, Automated Visual Inspection (AVI) equipment, and real-time process monitoring.
AI-powered inspection systems analyze camera-captured product images to identify defects. The objective is to reduce both false positives, where acceptable products are incorrectly classified as defective, and false negatives, where defective products go undetected.
NAMUGA is also pursuing the compact LiDAR module business through its investment in U.S.-based Lumotive. Lumotive's LiDAR technology controls the direction of light without mechanically rotating components, enabling a more compact design suitable for integration into vehicle bumpers and robotic systems.
Source: THE ELEC (디일렉)
