Korean industrial AI solutions providers raise funds from investors

Aiv Co.’s industry AI for defects inspection [Photo provided by Aiv]

South Korean startups that specialize in industry-use artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining attention from investors as industrial AI solutions are anticipated to enhance the capacity of the manufacturing industry that takes up about 25 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

According to industry sources on Wednesday, a number of local startups engaged in industrial AI solutions have raised more than 10 billion won ($764 million) in investment.

Aiv Co., an industry AI solution developer focusing on defect inspection, has raised 10 billion won, MakinaRocks, provider of AI-driven analytic services for manufacturing processes, 12 billion won, Gauss Labs, which focuses on chips, 64 billion won, and Onepredict Co., which provides industrial facility diagnoses, 49 billion won.

Industrial AI refers to AI technology that is applied to the manufacturing process to enhance productivity. There are broadly two types in this technology – early detection, and post diagnosis, for example, defects inspection.

For early detection, temperature, sound, pressure, and other on-site data are collected from an assembly line using sensors and motors, and then the dataset is fed into an AI solution.

The AI solutions have an accuracy rate of between 70 and 90 percent, depending on the specific industry.

For post diagnosis, AI solutions can inspect defects on finished goods based on video and image data, aiming at a 99 percent accuracy rate to meet industry standards.

There is no dominant powerhouse in the field of industrial AI as each industry has its own unstructured data different from data from other industries, making it innately complicated to find universal application of one solution to another.

“The data collected from electric vehicle motors and the data collected from six-joint robot motors are not compatible, leading to a trend where companies focus on industry-specific solutions, rather than universal solutions,” said Sung Min-soo, the chief executive officer of Aiv.

U.S.-based Veeva Systems Inc., which started as a startup and is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange, also provides AI solutions that specialize in pharmaceuticals and biotech.

According to market data tracker GlobeNewswire, the industrial AI market is expected to grow to $58.3 billion in 2029 from $3.1 billion in 2022.

Industry insiders call for more active government engagement in the industry if it believes industrial AI solutions have the potential to become one of the country’s key export items.

They seek the government for the establishment of innovation standards for industrial AI, the introduction of intellectual property rights and licensing systems for industrial AI solutions, the development of public datasets dedicated to industrial AI, and an increase in government aid and support for industrial AI research and development.