South Korea’s first artificial intelligence (AI) industrial cluster town will be built in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul. A state-run AI think tank will be nestled as the first tenant of the complex whose construction will cost about 1 trillion won ($916 million) in total over the next 10 years from 2019.

Three key projects will be the establishment of National AI Research Institute, AI Campus and the industry ecosystem to help create AI-related startups, Gwangju Metropolitan City said on Monday.

The complex will be formed inside the city’s 3.79 million square meter zone designated for a future technology park that currently hosts Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST).

The state AI think tank will be responsible for developing key technology in connection with the fourth industrial revolution and research for corporate projects, while supporting tasks for AI testing, certification and standardization.

AI Campus is an educational facility to train and retrain workers in the skills required by the fourth industrial revolution.

The city anticipates the new complex will help create 1,000 AI start-ups and 5,000 jobs.

A city official noted "the project aims to build an industrial complex to provide a one-stop service to enable AI research, train workers and help business creation and the central government already allocated 1 billion won for initial planning from next year’s budget.

By Park Jin-joo and Minu Kim

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