The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is expanding the scope of AI application in manufacturing from the manufacturing process to all areas of corporate activity, including production planning, supply chain management, worker safety, and inventory management. The plan is to expand M.AX (Manufacturing AI Transformation) beyond the manufacturing site by simultaneously pursuing the 'Industrial AI Solution' business, which deploys verified AI models to industrial sites, and the 'AI Agent' business, which is based on manufacturing data.


The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 23rd that it held a joint launch ceremony for the two projects at the El Tower in Yangjae, Seoul.

About 100 people attended the event, including the Korea Institute for Industrial Technology Advancement (KIAT), manufacturing companies, and AI specialized companies, as well as other participating organizations.

On the same day, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the linkage and utilization of manufacturing data was also signed.

The M.AX Alliance launched last September with 10 divisions and over 1,000 organizations, and in February of this year, it established the Industrial Complex AX Division, creating a “Best Eleven” system with 11 divisions and over 1,500 organizations.

The Ministry of Industry explained that manufacturing companies, AI specialized companies, and industry, academia, and research institutes are establishing a cooperative system.

The 'Industrial AI Solution' business is a method of immediately applying AI models owned by specialized AI companies to similar manufacturing processes through fine-tuning.

The Ministry of Industry announced that it has confirmed achievements such as improved accuracy in classifying iron scrap and enhanced accuracy in predicting heat exchanger quality for about 30 manufacturing companies.

This year as well, 12.8 billion won will be invested in about 30 companies.

The 'AI Agent' business develops and demonstrates AI agents in seven forward and backward linkage areas, including production planning, supply chain management, safety and environment, and product design.

Demand was received from approximately 90 companies in the call for proposals, and 10 companies including Sungwoo Hitech and Daeduck Electronics The company was finally selected.

The project budget for this year is 6 billion won.

KIAT and six lead organizations, including the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, the Korea Automotive Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, the Korea Construction Machinery Industry Association, the Korea Nano-Convergence Industry Association, and Pohang Technopark, signed an MoU to promote the linkage and utilization of manufacturing data.

The plan is to establish a virtuous cycle structure that expands the scope of data utilization by using manufacturing process data accumulated from the 'Industrial AI Solution' project in 2025 for follow-up projects and the 'AI Agent' project in 2026.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy added that it is digitizing the experience and know-how of skilled workers through the 'Manufacturing Master Tacit Knowledge' project, which was included in the supplementary budget.

Kim Seong-yeol, Head of the Industrial Growth Office, stated, “The outcome of the AI war will ultimately be decided in industrial sites where added value is created,” adding, “We will support the expansion of M.AX beyond manufacturing sites into decision-making areas such as business planning and production management.”