"More Precise, Faster, Safer"... Ulsan Industrial Complex to Become M.AX Forward Base with AI

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Holds Ulsan MINI Alliance Meeting

Promoting AI Transformation in Petrochemical Processes, Facilities, and Safety Management

"Fostering a Model for Nationwide Expansion of Industrial Complexes"

On the 14th, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Jongno-gu, Seoul, hosted the 'K-Consumer Goods Export Supply Chain Enhancement Financial Support Agreement Ceremony between Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and Woori Bank.' Kim Jung-Kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, attended the agreement ceremony and delivered a greeting. 2026.04.14 Photo by Dongju Yoon

The government will foster the Ulsan·Mipo Industrial Complex, the country's largest petrochemical cluster, as a hub for spreading AI-based manufacturing innovation (M.AX). The plan is to enhance manufacturing competitiveness by fully applying AI to production process optimization, predictive maintenance of facilities, and safety management.

On the 13th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the "Ulsan MINI Alliance Meeting" at the Ulsan Information Industry Promotion Agency. This was the first on-site meeting personally presided over by Kim Jungkwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, among the M.AX Alliance industrial complex division and the 10 regional MINI Alliances nationwide, which were launched in February to promote the transition of industrial complexes to AI.

The meeting was attended by representatives from manufacturing companies, AI companies, universities, research institutions, and local governments, who discussed strategies for driving the M.AX initiative in Ulsan’s petrochemical industry and ways to expand its adoption in the region.

The Ulsan·Mipo Industrial Complex is a leading industrial zone in South Korea, housing the automobile, shipbuilding, and petrochemical industries. Among the nation's three major petrochemical complexes, it accounts for 48% of companies, 45% of production, and 43% of exports, based on the number of companies, and holds over 60 years’ worth of accumulated process operation data and know-how. Currently, there are 1,115 tenant companies and about 100,000 employees. As of the fourth quarter of last year, the production value reached 44 trillion won and exports amounted to 16.8 billion dollars.

At the meeting, Lee Donggu, chairman of the Ulsan MINI Alliance, and Park Minwon, head of the M.AX Alliance Industrial Complex Division, presented the "Ulsan M.AX Cluster Promotion Plan" and the "Strategy for Promoting M.AX Clusters by Industrial Complex Type," respectively.

While attendees agreed with the policy of AI transformation in industrial complexes, they also suggested that the rapid spread of AX should be accompanied by institutional support, including improvements to the data utilization framework, expansion of regulatory sandboxes, and the fostering of specialized personnel.

Minister Kim stated, "Ulsan is a key hub of Korean manufacturing, with vast industrial data and manufacturing capabilities. Centered around the Ulsan MINI Alliance, we will implement AI models for production optimization, facility health improvement, and accident prevention to create manufacturing sites that are more precise, faster, and safer, and accelerate the spread of M.AX."

Before the meeting, Minister Kim visited the SK Energy plant, a leading site for the petrochemical AX demonstration industrial complex project, to inspect the current application of AI-based process, facility, and safety management systems.

SK Energy is currently operating AI virtual sensors that predict diesel quality indicators in real time for the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process, predictive diagnostic algorithms that analyze vibration and temperature of rotating machinery, and AI video analysis-based on-site monitoring systems. The Ministry expects that these models will rapidly spread to industrial complexes and related sectors nationwide.

The Ministry plans to establish leading M.AX models in the petrochemical sector within the Ulsan·Mipo Industrial Complex as soon as possible and foster them as exemplary cases that can be rolled out nationwide. In particular, the Ministry aims to strengthen industrial competitiveness by improving both production efficiency and safety in the face of external factors such as global oversupply and instability in the Middle East.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.