JEONNAM-GWANGJU — Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City is linking artificial intelligence transformation, green shipping technology and workforce training to build a foundation for sustainable growth in shipbuilding, its main industry.
The city said on the 22nd that it will apply AI technology to shipbuilding production sites and spread the technology across the region's shipbuilding sector through two projects it has secured: the 2025 project to build an AI transformation (AX) demonstration collaboration platform at the Daebul Industrial Complex and the 2026 project to establish an AX demonstration base for the shipbuilding industry. Both aim to lay the groundwork for AI transformation in the industry. On that basis, the city plans to push ahead with an AI-run autonomous shipyard, an AI demonstration base and workforce training programs to strengthen the competitiveness of manufacturing sites.
The city is also pursuing a planning project to extend the results of the AI-run autonomous shipyard's lead plant and lighthouse factory to shipbuilders in the region. Local companies have joined the effort. HD Hyundai Samho and Daea Industry will invest 400 billion won ($280 million) by 2031. The two companies will build a lead plant for an AI-run autonomous shipyard that applies AI technology to ship production sites.
Centering on the Daebul Industrial Complex and the Daebul Free Trade Zone, the city plans to build an AI transformation demonstration center and an autonomous-manufacturing lighthouse factory, and to pursue the digital transformation and automation of every shipyard process — from design to production, logistics and safety management — in stages, raising productivity and competitiveness across the shipbuilding sector.
The city is pairing those efforts with measures to ease the industry's labor shortage. This year it will support a total of 707 people through six programs covering training for new workers, hiring and settlement support, skills development for current employees and the cultivation of future innovation talent. The city was also selected for the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 2026 project to create regional win-win workplaces, which is expected to narrow gaps between prime contractors and subcontractors in shipbuilding and improve working conditions. Including 1.7 billion won in state funding, the city, Yeongam County, HD Hyundai Samho and its in-house subcontractors jointly raised a total of 3.34 billion won for the project.
"The launch of the integrated special city is a turning point that can create a new growth model for Korea's shipbuilding industry by combining Jeonnam's shipbuilding and marine manufacturing base with Gwangju's AI and advanced technology capabilities," said Kwak Bu-young, head of the city's industrial policy and shipbuilding division. "We will link the establishment of an AI-based production system, the securing of green and autonomous navigation technology, and workforce training programs to build a foundation for the sustained growth of the shipbuilding industry."