Ministry of Science and ICT launches AI dark factory development project

Modular edge AI data center among key infrastructure targets

Industry-specific physical AI solutions to be commercialized

An image introducing the infrastructure technology KT Corp plans to build at the dark factory near North Jeolla Province's innovation city [KT Corp]
An image introducing the infrastructure technology KT Corp plans to build at the dark factory near North Jeolla Province's innovation city [KT Corp]

KT Corp will build the infrastructure for a dark factory — an unmanned, fully automated manufacturing facility — near North Jeolla Province's innovation city. The company plans to develop AI agent technology capable of stable operation on actual factory floors and eventually commercialize it as industry-specific physical AI solutions.

KT Corp said Thursday it has joined the Ministry of Science and ICT's "AI-based dark factory design and construction solution development" project as a co-research institution.

The project is a sub-task of the ministry's broader initiative to foster a research and development ecosystem for collaborative intelligent physical AI-based software platforms. Its core objective is to build a dark factory near North Jeolla Province's innovation city. In addition to KT Corp, the research consortium includes KAIST, LG Energy Solution, Harim Industries, Shinsung E&G and the Korea Productivity Center (KPC).

KT Corp's role in the project focuses on developing a "modular edge AI data center (AIDC) infrastructure-based sim-ready synthetic data generation and verification system and integrated agent operation environment."

Through the research, KT Corp aims to eliminate errors that can arise when AI agents trained in simulated environments are deployed on actual industrial sites. The company will also build capabilities in the operational environments and control systems needed for dark factory settings.

KT Corp plans to conduct field demonstrations of an integrated platform for dark factory operations at the actual manufacturing sites of participating companies. The platform will include a modular edge AIDC and a data flywheel.

Capabilities accumulated through the demonstrations will be commercialized as industry-tailored physical AI solutions. KT Corp said it intends to leverage the experience and partnerships gained through the project as a springboard for entering the global manufacturing AI market.

"Starting with this physical AI project, which has brought together key government, local government and academic-industry-research institutions, we will accelerate the development of infrastructure and an operating platform for dark factory commercialization," said Park Jae-hyung, head of KT Corp's AX Future Technology Institute. "Backed by KT's technological capabilities, we will lead the way in driving productivity innovation in Korea's manufacturing sector and building a physical AI industry ecosystem."


chami@heraldcorp.com