On the 26th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced it will quantitatively and qualitatively expand the 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing Project' to enhance productivity in the manufacturing sector by introducing artificial intelligence (AI) at manufacturing sites.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, 519 corporations have shown significant interest in the AI Autonomous Manufacturing Project, which is planned for 25 projects this year. The ministry will reflect the demand from corporations by changing the project's name from 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing' to 'AI Factory' and will promote the quantitative and qualitative advancement of the project.
The ministry plans to expand the number of manufacturing sites where AI is newly applied from the current 25 to more than 100 by 2030. To this end, it will make the most of related budgets for developing machine and robot technology and will closely cooperate with budget authorities and the National Assembly to increase the budget.
The areas of the project will also diversify. Last year, it was focused on large-scale manufacturing industries such as automobiles and shipbuilding, but this year it will also extend to consumer facilities in distribution and logistics. This is a measure to enhance the public's awareness of AI.
Additionally, a 'large, medium, small cooperation project' will be operated separately to ensure that AI can be systematically disseminated within a single supply chain, from large corporations to medium and small enterprises. Furthermore, a project to systematically implement humanoids in manufacturing sites, led by the 'K-Humanoid Alliance,' will also be pursued for the first time.
The ministry will also expand the 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing Alliance,' launched last year, into the 'AI Factory Alliance.' Currently, 153 corporations and research institutions across 12 sectors are participating, and there are plans to strengthen the alliance by including AI specialized corporations. They will engage in individual project execution, review existing tasks, devise manufacturing data utilization methods, and develop manufacturing AI foundation models.
The ministry plans to develop a 'Manufacturing AI Foundation Model' that can be universally applied to all manufacturing sites through the AI Factory Alliance. This model will be co-developed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, based on the knowledge and know-how accumulated from individual projects, and is expected to begin providing some models as open-source as early as 2027, allowing corporations to build AI manufacturing systems specialized for their own processes.
A ministry official said, "The project has diversified compared to last year, and due to high demand from corporations, we plan to expand the number of selected projects from the initial 25 or so," adding, "We will begin project announcements at the end of May for each project and aim to finalize selections for the projects around June to July."