As the crisis facing the domestic manufacturing industry becomes apparent due to population decline and intensifying global competition, the government has officially announced a strategy for a major transformation of the manufacturing sector centered on AI. The plan envisions investing a combined 20 trillion won from the public and private sectors by 2030 to generate over 100 trillion won in economic added value.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the 'Path to the Great Transformation of Korea's Manufacturing Industry: Manufacturing AI 2030 Strategy' at the 'National Briefing on the Three Major Mega-Projects for Korea's Great Leap Forward' held at the Blue House presided over by President Lee Jae-myung. This is the result of six months of discussions by 23 private sector experts from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Manufacturing Task Force of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee.

The core direction is to enhance productivity and safety across manufacturing sites by integrating AI into the existing competitiveness of key industries such as semiconductors, shipbuilding, and automobiles.

This strategy is a follow-up measure to the 'Republic of Korea Artificial Intelligence Action Plan' announced last February.

The strategy was named Manufacturing AI Transformation (M.AX).

The relevant ministries presented three key tasks: establishing a national manufacturing data management and utilization system, developing manufacturing-specialized AI models, and expanding regional manufacturing AI.

First, manufacturing data is aggregated in the form of a library directly collected and managed by the government, and standardization, encryption, and anonymization systems are installed to prevent overseas leakage.

We are also running a project to convert the on-site know-how of skilled workers nearing retirement into data.

Based on this data, we build step-by-step models ranging from lightweight models for each process to a universal foundation model encompassing the entire manufacturing industry.

The plan also includes fostering 'Full-Stack AI Factories,' where AI and robots collaborate to autonomously operate the entire process from factory and product design to logistics and supply chain optimization, into exportable products.

Regional expansion is being driven around industrial complexes that account for two-thirds of domestic manufacturing production and exports, and half of employment.

The plan is to support the adoption of AI by small and medium-sized enterprises by establishing M.AX clusters in each industrial complex and building shared infrastructure such as edge computing centers.

In terms of ecosystem building, a Manufacturing AX certification system will be established, and private investment linked to the 150 trillion won National Growth Fund promotes.

A goal was also presented to train 30,000 manufacturing AI specialists through master's and doctoral programs and on-the-job training programs.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon stated, “We will actively support the combination of core AI technological capabilities with the manufacturing sector to lead to technologies that operate in the actual field.”

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-kwan said, “Through the M.AX Alliance, we will support decision-making by various entities, including manufacturing companies, AI specialized companies, universities, and research institutions.”

Noh Yong-seok, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, emphasized, “The transition to AI for small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for 99.6% of all manufacturing companies, is an essential condition for the great transformation of the manufacturing industry.”