Samsung Electronics has tested reduced-capability 5G (5G RedCap) on a private 5G network deployment at a factory belonging to Hyundai Motor Company in Ulsan, in South Korea. The tests were “end-to-end” and “successful”, the firm said, and marked an “industry-first” for testing RedCap on private 5G for Industry 4.0. It will show the setup with “real-world use cases” at MWC in Barcelona next week.
The firm deployed a private 5G network at Hyundai’s plant in the city of Ulsan in October (2024), using the local 4.7GHz band, available for enterprise usage with private 4G/5G since 2021. The facility is the world’s single largest car plant, apparently, producing around 6,000 vehicles per day. Hyundai has recruited country-mate Samsung to provide the network to “transform” the site as part of its “smart factory innovation”. The trial shows the “potential of next-gen industrial private 5G connectivity”, it said.
Hyundai is the first company in the country to implement private 5G in mass production. Jae Min Lee, vice president and head of the E-FOREST Center for Hyundai and Kia, said: “We are also the industry’s first to verify private-5G RedCap technology, reinforcing our global leadership in smart manufacturing solutions. We will continue to accelerate its commercialization.” The company will deploy RedCap on private 5G at its “newest” factories, it said.
A number of new electric vehicle manufacturing facilities will be open for business in the first half of 2026, it said. It has flagged a “range of small devices” for RedCap that are common at its “smart factories”. These include sensors, cameras, tablets, robots (AMRs, AGVs), tools, and test equipment. Such IoT devices make industrial RedCap a “key driver for cost-effective, efficient, and intelligent automation and monitoring”, it added.
Samsung has been testing RedCap at a private 5G network testbed at the Usan plant since the start of the year. They said: “It was aimed to verify RedCap capabilities and integrated performance across the whole network from [the] vehicle inspection terminal to [network] core, radios, and management system. Samsung used its RedCap private 5G network… including its virtualized 5G Core, baseband units, radios, and… network management.”
The trial also integrated Hyundai’s so-called ‘D Scan’ (Diagnostic Scan) into the private 5G setup. The D Scan unit, running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X35 5G modem-RF system, to automate inspections of vehicle assemblies before finished cars are released into the supply chain. Samsung said: “Compared to the old Wi-Fi system, the companies achieved a more seamless, real-time inspection data transmission with high speed and reliable 5G connectivity.”
RedCap strips-back and simplifies functionality so 5G works for small-size 5G IoT devices – or what Samsung is calling ‘IoST’ (internet of small-things) devices – such as industrial sensors and wearables. It is pitched as a “catalyst for the widespread adoption of private 5G” in Industry 4.0 – said the press note. In a supplied quote, Pablo Tomasi, analyst at Omdia, said: “RedCap technology will empower private 5G to be more efficient and cost-effective.”
He added: “Thanks to RedCap, private 5G networks will support an increasingly large set of use cases.” Meanwhile, Simon Lee, vice president and head of business development in Samsung’s networks business, commented: “Samsung’s RedCap-powered private 5G network solutions will open up more possibilities for enterprises, manufacturers and public institutions, serving as a gateway to driving more efficient 5G networks.”
Samsung is some way behind Huawei, Nokia, and Ericsson for private 5G deployments. But it is serious about the opportunity, it seems. It said it is delivering private 5G at factories, hospitals, universities, construction sites, military facilities, and government properties. At MWC, it will show a new software-centric private 5G solution, which includes virtualised RAN software and other software applications on commercial servers (COTS).
