Gyeonggi Province will invest 15.1 billion won to establish a corporate-tailored Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solution Technology Development Center.
On October 15, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will be the first local government in South Korea to embark on the development of an AI foundation model. This model will be pre-trained on large-scale datasets, enabling manufacturers to rapidly develop AI application models for various purposes.
Previously, individual companies had to develop AI solutions from scratch to suit their needs. With the foundation model, however, companies will be able to easily create customized AI solutions.
An AI solution is a program that leverages artificial intelligence technology to solve specific problems or improve work efficiency. For example, in the manufacturing sector, it can be used to predict product defects, automatically detect equipment failures, or optimize production planning.
Earlier, in August, Gyeonggi Province was selected as the final institution for the establishment of the "Manufacturing AI Solution Development Support Center," a project led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The Manufacturing AI Solution Development Support Center will be located on the fourth floor of the Gyeonggi Business Growth Center in Seongnam. A total of 15.14 billion won, including 10 billion won in national funding, will be invested over five years until December 2029. The project will be led by the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) with participation from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).
The Manufacturing AI Solution Development Support Center will serve as a hub that provides the infrastructure to collect and train high-quality, large-scale manufacturing data from within the province. It will support the development of AI foundation models and industry-specific solutions.
Additionally, the center will establish a state-of-the-art GPU infrastructure to support large-scale AI training and model validation. It will also provide manufacturing-specific algorithms and templates for production, quality, and facility management, enabling even small and medium-sized manufacturers to easily adopt AI technology.
Furthermore, the center will operate AI specialist training programs for manufacturing site personnel, helping to alleviate the shortage of technical talent in the industry.
Gyeonggi Province expects that, once the center is established, AI based on manufacturing data will be able to predict defects and anomalies in advance, reduce defect and rework rates, and improve on-time delivery rates, thereby maximizing production efficiency.
Focusing on this project, Gyeonggi Province will actively promote its "Physical AI Industry Development" strategy, which includes robotics and autonomous vehicles-industries that operate in the physical world. Currently, AI clusters are being established in Pangyo, Siheung, Hanam, Uijeongbu, and Bucheon, and the province is preparing to open South Korea's first local government-led "Physical AI Lab" in the Seongnam General Industrial Complex.
Kim Kibyeong, Director of AI at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Gyeonggi Province is the heart of South Korea's manufacturing industry, and is the region where the development of the physical AI industry and manufacturing AI support are most urgently needed. By attracting this center, we will accelerate the AI transformation of small and medium-sized manufacturers and lead the global market in the era of AI transformation."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
