Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Korea to invest $186.2 mil. to accelerate AI-driven manufacturing innovation
A robot is displayed at AW2025 at Coex in Gangnam District, Seoul, March 12, 2025. Korea Times photo by Kang Ye-jin
By Lee Gyu-lee
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced on Monday that it will invest a total of 268.5 billion won ($186.2 million) this year in its program for industrial infrastructure innovation, aiming to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI)-powered manufacturing.
The number marks the largest budget ever allocated to the program, up 11.5 percent from last year. It is intended to bolster Korea’s technological self-reliance and industrial competitiveness amid intensifying global technology competition.
The program funds shared equipment and facilities for companies and research institutions to use for testing, evaluation, certification and pilot-scale test bed use, easing the financial burden on individual firms.
“In the era of rapid AI-driven technological disruption, securing advanced research infrastructure is crucial to staying ahead,” said Choi Yeon-woo, the ministry’s director general for industrial technology convergence policy.
“Through this program, we will continue to support companies in keeping pace with emerging technologies by building and expanding shared infrastructure that is essential for industrial technology development but difficult for small and mid-sized firms to establish on their own.”
This year, the ministry plans to select 28 new projects, which is 12 more than last year, with a budget of 28 billion won in total. About 40 percent of new funding will be dedicated to building AI-based manufacturing infrastructure, such as autonomous AI labs and AI manufacturing transformation facilities that can be immediately deployed on factory floors.
The initiative aims to create a national foundation for Korea’s emergence as a global leader in manufacturing AI.
Starting this year, the ministry will require newly selected projects to establish shared research spaces at regional centers in advanced fields such as AI, semiconductors and secondary batteries. These centers will act as industrial technology hubs to promote collaboration among anchor companies, small and mid-size suppliers, universities and labs.
The centers will support every stage of innovation, from materials and process development to testing, certification, reliability assessment and real-world demonstration. As of last year, there are a total of 286 infrastructure centers nationwide across 141 institutions.
In addition, the ministry will roll out tailored, demand-driven support measures, including funds to upgrade or maintain aging equipment at self-sustained centers with strong track records of shared equipment use. It will also launch AI-driven labs that use virtual experiments to predict outcomes and autonomously conduct the full cycle from hypothesis to results.
The new projects for the program will be announced in three rounds throughout the year, beginning with the first call for proposals on Tuesday, which will select nine projects to fund.