# Selected Asian Factories Record AI Gains as U.S. Effects May Start in 2027

By Simon Yoon

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/28890
Published: 2026-10-09T11:19:52.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-09T11:19:52.000Z
Section: Technology

> South Korean AI Factory sites and Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility reported gains in productivity, inspection speed and equipment efficiency, while broader U.S. effects could begin emerging in 2027.

Selected factories in South Korea and China are recording measurable gains from artificial intelligence, while broader effects on the U.S. economy could begin emerging in 2027.

South Korea’s AI Factory project has supported more than 170 manufacturing sites. A review of 42 early sites selected after producing measurable results found average productivity rose 30.1% and defect rates declined 15.5%.

The gains varied by operation. SurplusGLOBAL increased productivity 66.7% by applying AI to semiconductor-equipment dismantling and parts recovery. Asan Sungwoo Hitech cut electric-vehicle battery inspection time 90% through an autonomous, unmanned manufacturing system.

The government plans to expand proven systems among small and midsize companies, middle-market businesses and regional industrial complexes.

Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory increased direct-labor productivity 102%, reduced quality deficiencies 38% and improved overall equipment efficiency 27% through digital and AI technologies. The figures measure performance at one facility and should not be treated as evidence of economy-wide gains across China.

The South Korean figures also come from selected sites that had already begun showing measurable results. They describe factory-level performance rather than productivity across the country’s manufacturing sector.

A Nov. 7, 2023 projection put the beginning of a measurable AI effect on U.S. gross domestic product in 2027. Their baseline estimate called for widespread adoption to raise U.S. productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points annually over 10 years. They also projected that automation could reduce labor costs and free workers for new tasks.

The comparison is between selected factory-level deployments in Asia and a projection about economy-wide adoption in the United States. It does not show that Asian manufacturers as a group are already producing higher financial returns from AI, nor that the United States has no current AI-related productivity gains.

U.S. semiconductor and electronic-component manufacturing capacity utilization stood at 73.9417% in August 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Total U.S. goods imports from Taiwan were $24.7 billion that month, compared with $336.2 billion from all countries. Those figures cover all goods and do not measure semiconductor trade specifically.