MakinaRocks, an industry-specialized artificial intelligence (AI) corporation, announced on the 7th that it is participating in the Upstage consortium, which has been selected as one of the final five teams in the "Independent AI Foundation Model" project organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The Upstage consortium, which includes MakinaRocks, is the only team composed primarily of AI-native technology-based startups. Unlike existing consortiums led by large corporations, this group has united corporations possessing expertise in foundation model development and domain-specific vertical AI technologies to build an independent AI ecosystem. MakinaRocks plans to lead the development and field application of specialized AI agents for the manufacturing and defense sectors within the consortium.
In the manufacturing sector, MakinaRocks will develop AI agents specialized for manufacturing sites based on an independent foundation model, while in the defense sector, it will be responsible for non-operational experimental projects based on closed networks and the pilot application of specialized defense AI agents. Initially, the focus will be on automating repetitive tasks such as report summarization, tactical literature interpretation, and educational material generation, which will then be expanded to administrative, logistics, and personnel departments. Ultimately, the goal is to extend to command and control (C4I) and weapons systems operations to achieve advanced mission support, including real-time summarization, threat recognition, and maintenance predictions.
A company official noted, "We plan to build a massive language model (LLM) environment dedicated to defense and a data pipeline for closed networks to continuously disseminate models specialized for the defense industry," and added, "The defense AI market is recording an average annual growth rate of 19.4%, and based on a global market share of 5%, a demand of approximately 7 trillion won per year is expected."
Yoon Seong-ho, CEO of MakinaRocks, stated, "The true value of AI technology is maximized when it understands and operates within the industrial field to solve practical problems," and added, "As a national representative AI corporation, MakinaRocks aims to contribute to Korea's leadership in the physical AI era, based on verified technology in the most complex sectors, including manufacturing and defense."