NVIDIA and Samsung join forces to invest, robot unicorn Skild AI reaches a valuation of 4.5 billion USD

A capital frenzy surrounding the robotics sector is underway.

On June 12, according to Bloomberg, NVIDIA will invest $25 million in the robotics software developer Skild AI, while Samsung Electronics will invest $10 million, with both companies acquiring minority stakes.

This investment is part of Skild AI's Series B funding round, which is led by SoftBank Group with $100 million, pushing the company's valuation to around $4.5 billion.

Just a few months ago, Physical Intelligence, which also focuses on underlying robotics algorithms, raised $400 million but had a valuation of only about $2.4 billion.

The nearly doubled valuation premium of Skild AI reflects the capital market's frenzied pursuit of the robotics sector.

Analysts believe that the logic behind the significant investments from tech giants like NVIDIA and Samsung in Skild AI goes beyond mere aspirations for future technology; it is a life-and-death game concerning the dominance of the next trillion-dollar market.

NVIDIA's "Physical AI" Ambition

According to Bloomberg, this investment is not a coincidence for NVIDIA. The chip giant is vigorously promoting the concept of "Physical AI"—that is, robots and autonomous vehicles—as a crucial engine for its future revenue growth.

As technology matures, NVIDIA has been laying out plans across multiple levels, including semiconductors, software, and services, to accelerate the deployment of machines that can think independently.

In fact, NVIDIA's investment landscape in the robotics field is rapidly expanding.

In addition to Skild AI, the company has also invested in startups like Figure AI and Serve Robotics, clearly preparing for the next growth cycle.

Samsung's Defensive Strategy

In contrast to NVIDIA's aggressive stance, Samsung's investment logic is more defensive in nature.

Reports indicate that, according to insiders, Samsung believes that investing in Skild AI is a way to maintain visibility of this startup and its talent without making significant commitments.

More importantly, this is to keep pace with other South Korean conglomerates like LG, Hanwha, and Mirae Asset, which are all investing between $5 million and $10 million in Skild AI.

Interestingly, some insiders have indicated that Samsung internally believes that some of Skild's solutions are not as good as other competing products on the market.

Analysts suggest that this contradictory attitude of "knowing it may not be excellent yet still investing" precisely exposes the current anxiety in the robotics sector: Better to make a wrong investment than to miss out.

The Arms Race in Robotics Among Tech Giants Heats Up

A few months ago, Samsung made a small investment in Physical Intelligence, which also develops underlying robotics algorithms, and acquired a minority stake. This startup has raised about $400 million and recently had a valuation of approximately $2.4 billion.

In addition to its existing robotic vacuum business, Samsung is extending its reach into humanoid robots and other home appliances Later this year, Samsung will collaborate with Google to launch Ballie, a machine the size of a soccer ball that can project videos onto walls.

More notably, Samsung is the largest shareholder of Rainbow Robotics, a company specializing in humanoid robots, which is at the core of Samsung's robotics strategy.

It is worth noting that robotics is rapidly becoming the main battleground for future growth among global tech giants. Companies like Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Google's parent company Alphabet are heavily investing in this field, while Tesla is already preparing to launch its Optimus robot.

According to previous reports from Bloomberg, Meta has established a new department within its Reality Labs hardware division dedicated to the development of humanoid robot technology, with a recent goal of building a foundational software platform—equivalent to the Android system in the robotics field—for hardware manufacturers to use.

Reports indicate that Apple's engineering team is developing various home robot devices, with the only publicly disclosed plan being the release of a desktop robot. This desktop device can serve as a "home command center" and be used for FaceTime calls and other video conferencing, as well as a home security monitoring tool