Turning 1,341 Industrial Complexes into AX Hubs Nationwide
Expanding Dark Factories and AI Infrastructure Around Five-Pole, Three-Special Growth Engines
Participation of Over 500 Industry-Academia-Research Institutions
Kim Jeonggwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, is attending the "AI Factory M.AX Alliance Strategy Meeting" held on October 1 at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, delivering a congratulatory speech. October 1, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is fully launching a public-private cooperation platform to accelerate the transition to artificial intelligence (AI), using industrial complexes as hubs. The plan is to speed up manufacturing innovation by spreading the region-led "M.AX (Manufacturing AI Transformation) Grand Transition" at the level of industrial complexes.
On the 26th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held an inauguration ceremony for the "Industrial Complex AX Subcommittee," the 11th subcommittee of the M.AX Alliance, at the Changwon National Industrial Complex. The event was attended by stakeholders from manufacturing companies, AI companies, universities, research institutes, and local governments, who shared the direction and operational plans for promoting AX in industrial complexes.
The newly launched Industrial Complex AX Subcommittee is an industry-academia-research cooperation body involving more than 500 organizations, and Changwon National University President Park Minwon will serve as the head of the subcommittee. The subcommittee plans to perform roles such as: ▲ overall coordination of industrial complex AX projects and policies ▲ linking the existing 10 M.AX subcommittees with companies located in industrial complexes ▲ sharing best practices and challenges by complex ▲ building systems for collecting, sharing, and utilizing manufacturing data.
In particular, the chairs of 10 regional "MINI (M.AX Innovation Network in Industrial complexes) Alliances" will participate in the Industrial Complex AX Subcommittee. Starting with Changwon, it will function as an implementation organization that discovers AX projects tailored to the industrial characteristics of each region and spreads demonstration models that can be applied on-site immediately. The government plans to gradually expand the MINI Alliances in connection with the future designation of AX demonstration industrial complexes.
The ministry also announced the "Industrial Complex AX Promotion Strategy" in conjunction with this launch. It will pursue three key strategies to foster 1,341 industrial complexes nationwide as hubs for spreading manufacturing AX. First, it will upgrade key industrial complexes in each region into M.AX clusters. It will support anchor companies in the five-pole, three-special growth engine sectors in building world-class dark factories, and, around these anchors, create a manufacturing AX ecosystem that combines AI and robotics companies with universities and research institutes.
It will also strengthen industry-academia-research collaboration systems centered on industrial complexes. The ministry will support companies and research institutes in jointly developing and disseminating AI models for difficult manufacturing challenges and core processes, and will institutionalize "M.AX Caravan" events such as consultation sessions and seminars to match manufacturing companies in industrial complexes with AI specialist companies. R&D and workforce development projects in collaboration with local universities will be promoted in parallel.
In addition, essential infrastructure for the spread of AX will be expanded. Following the attraction of AI data centers to the Osong Industrial Complex and the Myeongji-Noksan Industrial Complex in Busan, the ministry plans to attract additional centers by utilizing policy funds and subsidies. A 5G specialized network for ultra-high-speed, low-latency processing of large-scale manufacturing data will be piloted in one industrial complex this year and then rolled out nationwide.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeonggwan said, "Industrial Complex AX goes beyond individual companies adopting AI; the core is that industry, academia, and research institutions jointly experiment with innovation models and accumulate and spread achievements within the space of an industrial complex," adding, "We will establish the Industrial Complex AX Subcommittee as a platform that simultaneously delivers regional growth and realizes M.AX."
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