South Korea’s Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction (E&C) has announced a major transformation initiative to evolve into an ‘AI-native’ construction company, where every work process and decision is supported by AI-powered intelligence.

On 11 November, the group held the 2025 AI Day at its headquarters in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, with the theme ‘Build the Future with Intelligence’. The event was designed to share global AI trends, present the latest project results, and outline the group’s AI-driven innovation strategy for the years ahead.

Delivering his welcome remarks, Samsung C&T president and CEO, Se-chul Oh, emphasised the growing importance of AI in large and complex construction projects and encouraged employees to recognise AI as a strategic partner. He highlighted the company’s accumulated experience from global megaprojects and its potential to transform this knowledge into next-generation AI capabilities.

In the keynote address, Byungsik So, executive vice president and head of ENG Innovation, described the current state of AI development, the gap between personal AI use and low adoption in professional workflows, and the strategic opportunities this gap presents. He identified three core pillars of AI innovation at Samsung C&T:

• Knowledge accumulation: Developing AI based on the group’s unique data, insights and expertise

• Active intelligence: Moving beyond passive responses to AI that asks questions and makes proactive suggestions

• Shift in perspective: Evaluating AI not by external benchmarks but by its ability to solve Samsung C&T’s business challenges

The data operations group then introduced three AI agent projects co-developed with Amazon Web Services (AWS), showcasing their capabilities through live demonstrations:

• AI-ITB Reviewer: Automatically analyses large volumes of bid documents to identify potential risks quickly

• AI-Contract Manager: Supports legal and contractual decision-making by detecting risk factors and providing specialised guidance

• AI-Project Expert (AIPEX): Integrates and analyses scattered on-site data to uncover hidden insights and support project management

During the event, Samsung C&T also revealed its roadmap for evolving into a fully AI-native company. Beginning next year, the group plans to apply AI-ITB Reviewer and other AI agents across all new construction projects. Over the next three years, the group will implement a phased approach to AI transformation with the goal of enabling AI-centred intelligent workflows across the entire construction value chain by 2028.

A Samsung C&T representative stated that the event served as an important opportunity to share a unified vision for how AI will redefine the construction industry and to reinforce the company’s commitment to building an organisation that grows together with AI.

In line with these efforts, Samsung C&T E&C also recently hosted the 2025 FutureScape Demo Day, collaborating with innovative start-ups across AI edutech, wellness and XR to explore new business opportunities and strengthen open innovation.

All images: Samsung C&T