KT is taking part in a government-led project to build an AI-based dark factory.

KT said on Sept. 17 it will participate as a joint research institution in the Ministry of Science and ICT-led project, "Development of AI-based dark factory design and construction solutions."

The project is a sub-task of the ministry's initiative to build a research and development ecosystem for software platforms based on collaborative-intelligence physical AI. The goal is to build a dark factory near Jeonbuk Innovation City, applying AI and other technologies across all processes to run a 24-hour unmanned and automated plant. Participants include KT, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), LG Energy Solution, Harim Industry, Shinsung E&G and the Korea Productivity Center.

KT will develop a system to generate and validate synthetic data for simulations based on modular edge AI data center infrastructure, as well as an integrated environment to run AI agents. It plans to cut errors that may occur when applying AI agents trained in a simulation environment to real industrial sites and to secure capabilities to operate and control dark factories.

It will also conduct demonstrations of an integrated dark factory operations platform at participating companies' manufacturing sites, using a modular edge AI data center and a data flywheel. A data flywheel refers to a structure that continuously improves AI performance through interaction between data and training models. KT plans to commercialise technology secured through the demonstrations into industry-specific physical AI solutions and to lay the groundwork for entering the global market in manufacturing AI.

Park Jae-hyung (박재형), head of KT's AX Future Technology Institute and an executive director, said, "With the launch of this physical AI task as a starting point, we will speed up development of key infrastructure and an operations platform for commercialising dark factories." He added, "Based on KT's technological capabilities, we will take the lead in driving productivity innovation in Korea's manufacturing industry and in building an industrial ecosystem for physical AI."