Five million won per pyeong, or 150 million won for a 30-pyeong home. This time, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have started selling not TVs or refrigerators, but “homes.” Competition between the two companies is intensifying over the futuristic housing market, where AI appliances come installed from the start.
Samsung, LG Ramp Up Push Into Modular Housing Market
On the 2nd, LG Electronics held a launch broadcast for its premium modular home “LG Smart Cottage” on CJ ONSTYLE. On the 5th, it plans to introduce the Smart Cottage, currently on display at the Hyundai Premium Outlet in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, through a CJ ONSTYLE mobile live broadcast. This marks the first time a modular home has been sold through home shopping in Korea.
LG Electronics first unveiled the Smart Cottage in 2023 and began sales last year. On June 29, it expanded its lineup by adding two new products in the 20-pyeong range. The newly launched 22-pyeong “MONO Core 72” starts at 199.5 million won, while the roughly 24-pyeong “MONO Core 82” starts at 233.5 million won. Prices vary depending on options and installation conditions.
Current products are divided into the single-story “MONO” and two-story “DUO,” comprising a total of eight models ranging from 8 to 24 pyeong. According to LG Electronics, the new products cut the price per pyeong by up to 76% compared with existing products. As of the end of last month, about 7,000 visitors had experienced the display at the Hyundai Premium Outlet in Gimpo, with inquiries coming most frequently from people in their 50s and 60s.
Samsung Electronics also entered the domestic market in earnest in June, joining hands with wooden modular specialist Space Factory to launch the “Samsung AI Modular Home.” The product can be selected in various sizes, including 33 square meters (about 10 pyeong), 99 square meters (about 30 pyeong), and 132 square meters (about 40 pyeong). Construction costs per pyeong, including basic AI appliances, range from about 5 million to 6 million won, amounting to about 150 million won for a 30-pyeong home.
At the factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, most processes from design to wiring and plumbing are completed through a U-shaped production line before assembly on-site. It can produce an average of two units per day and up to 40 units per month, and selecting an existing design model allows production in about one week.
“Because modular homes are manufactured in the factory for more than 80% of the entire process and then assembled on-site, the construction period can be cut to about half that of ordinary reinforced concrete homes, while uniform quality can be secured,” a Space Factory official explained to Yonhap News. The actual time from groundbreaking to completion is about 90 days, roughly half that of ordinary concrete homes (about 180 days).
Screenshot from Space Studio’s YouTube
Interior bedroom of the roughly 66-square-meter “Samsung AI Modular Home” installed in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap News
LG Electronics’ modular home “MONO Core 72.” Screenshot from LG Smart Cottage
Exterior of the roughly 330-square-meter “Samsung AI Modular Home” installed in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap News
Homes Become AI Platforms: Selling “Space” Beyond Appliances
What the two companies share lies less in the home itself than in the AI ecosystem. The Samsung AI Modular Home ships with AI appliances and a SmartThings-based smart home system all installed from the factory production stage. Beyond air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs, and heat pump boilers, buyers can select more than 20 types of SmartThings-linked devices, including home cams and AI door cams, at the design stage. Cabinet sizes and water supply and drainage locations are also built to match the appliances, requiring almost no separate construction after move-in.
Security and safety functions have also been strengthened. When the AI door cam detects a visitor or intruder, it notifies the user through the smartphone and TV screen, and if necessary, links to the S-1 emergency dispatch service. In the event of a fire or water leak, sensors detect it and warn of the danger by voice through the TV, speakers, and robot vacuum, while the lights flash. Energy management functions using AI saving mode, automatic blinds, away mode, and an EHS heat pump have also been applied.
“We focused on solving with AI technology the intrusion crimes, fires, water leaks, and high energy costs that detached-house residents worry about most,” a Samsung Electronics official explained.
The LG Smart Cottage also puts the AI Home platform at its center. Inside, the AI Home hub “ThinQ ON,” IoT devices such as smart doors and smart switches, system air conditioners, high-efficiency heating and air-conditioning equipment, condensing boilers, and energy management solutions come as standard. Users can control the entire home with the single LG ThinQ app.
LG Electronics is broadening its target scope beyond first and second homes for general consumers to the B2B market, including corporate training centers, employee dormitories, and workation facilities. The strategy is not simply to sell appliances but to make the AI-platform-equipped space itself into a product.
Market Seen Growing Sixfold: “AI Ecosystem Competition Extends to Homes”
The modular housing market is also growing rapidly. The Modular Construction Committee of the Korea Iron & Steel Association forecast that the domestic modular construction market will grow from about 560 billion won in 2024 to about 3.7 trillion won in 2030. Samsung Electronics also expects the domestic modular home market to grow at an annual average of 24% from about 4,000 units per year this year, expanding to 23,000 units per year by 2034.
The market is also expanding as demand for detached houses after retirement has recently increased. According to Samsung Electronics, about 75% of residents in newly built detached houses are in their 50s or older.
Starting with this detached-house business, Samsung Electronics plans to expand its AI Home business into multi-family housing, offices, lodging facilities, and cultural spaces. “Starting with the detached-house AI Modular Home, we plan to expand our AI Home solutions to various spaces such as multi-family housing and commercial facilities,” a Samsung Electronics official said. “We are reviewing the business with a goal of supplying a cumulative 10,000 units within three years.”