Ulsan launches industrial AI transformation drive with 13-member consortium

Ulsan, South Korea's industrial capital, has launched a push to apply artificial intelligence to manufacturing — optimizing production processes and making factory floors smarter — in what the city calls an industrial AI transformation, or AX. The initiative is a flagship policy of Mayor Kim Sang-uk's administration, and officials expect the city's shift toward AI-driven growth to accelerate.

The city signed a memorandum of understanding for spreading manufacturing industry AX in Ulsan at City Hall on Thursday and simultaneously launched the Ulsan Industrial AI Transformation (AX) Council, a public-private cooperation body to carry out the agreement.

Mayor Kim Sang-uk attended the signing ceremony alongside Ahn Hyeon-sil, vice president of the Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology, and representatives of 13 companies, universities and research institutions — including Hyundai Motor Company, HD Hyundai Heavy, SK Energy, Naver Cloud, SK Telecom, the University of Ulsan, Chonnam National University and Kyungpook National University.

Under the agreement, the participating organizations will work together on four areas: building the infrastructure and sharing data needed to establish an industrial AX pilot research complex; jointly developing and testing manufacturing-specific small language models (sLLMs) and physical AI; training specialist workers and creating local digital jobs; and making use of data excluding protected information.

The city plans to use the council as the hub for research, development and pilot projects tied to the industrial AX complex, and to build a manufacturing-data-based AX ecosystem that positions Ulsan as the country's central base for industrial AI transformation.

"Industrial AX is not a choice for Ulsan — it is a matter of the city's future," Mayor Kim said. "We will move quickly to connect Ulsan's manufacturing floor data, the research capabilities of UNIST and the technology of leading AI companies to build sLLMs that actually work on the factory floor, and to spread them to small and medium-sized enterprises, mid-sized companies and their suppliers."

Following the signing ceremony, Ulsan also held a regional industry-academia roundtable with SK Telecom, the Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology, the University of Ulsan and Ulsan College, where participants agreed to develop a plan for training field-ready talent essential to the AI transformation.