Korea holds a competitive edge in equipment for data centers and in Robotics, and the related market is growing rapidly.
Giang Paolo Bassi, senior vice president of Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Works, met with reporters recently in Samseong-dong, Seoul, and said, "SolidWorks from Dassault Systèmes, optimized for high-precision design, is being used in fields where Korean corporations have strengths, such as Robotics, heavy industry, nuclear power, and semiconductors." Introducing the next-generation SolidWorks software based on artificial intelligence (AI), Bassi said, "SolidWorks is no longer a product only for design, but provides a comprehensive solution that spans simulation, cloud, and virtual factory."
SolidWorks is Dassault Systèmes' flagship 3D CAD (computer-aided design) software and is one of the most widely used tools in the world for mechanical and product design. In fact, Dassault Systèmes' global CAD market share is close to 44%. Bassi said, "Volkswagen announced it will invest 1 billion euros (about 1.7 trillion won) in AI by 2030, and it has decided to use Dassault Systèmes' solutions for vehicle development," emphasizing the AI features of the next-generation SolidWorks.
He cited strengthened consolidation with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as a feature of SolidWorks unveiled this time. Marking its 30th anniversary this year, 3DEXPERIENCE is a cloud-based platform that integrates 3D design, simulation, and manufacturing. As the consolidation between SolidWorks and 3DEXPERIENCE has become smoother, corporations can easily handle 3D design, simulation, electrical systems, and data management in a single cloud environment.
Bassi said, "AI is a big buzzword these days, but Dassault Systèmes has applied Machine Learning technology to SolidWorks since 10 years ago," adding, "The AI function we are talking about here is not a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT, but a large industry model (LIM), an AI model built on industrial knowledge accumulated over the past 30 years through cooperation with customers." He emphasized the differentiation of Dassault Systèmes' industry-specialized AI model, saying, "Because LIM has learned data accumulated from thousands to tens of thousands of corporations and real industrial sites, it is different from LLMs trained on internet data."
He said 16 AI features in SolidWorks support automatic drawing generation, parts placement simulation, and defeaturing (a function in CAD software that automatically removes or simplifies unnecessary elements of a 3D model), which can speed up corporations' work and help cut expense. Bassi said, "More than 90% of drawings are automatically generated by AI agents," adding, "Considering that the cost of drafting can be up to three times higher than actual design, this is a tremendous functional improvement."
He also explained that, by running the industry-specialized model on Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform, it has acquired multiscale, multiphysics, and multidomain design and simulation capabilities. He said, "Based on multiscale capabilities, it can run simulations across a range of scales from massive bridges to the microstructure of metal alloys used in 3D printing, and with multiphysics functions it can simulate fluid behavior, such as interactions between an airplane and air in high-altitude environments."
He added that it can also analyze heat transfer phenomena that occur under various conditions, making it highly useful for data centers and semiconductor plants where thermal management is critical.
Addressing concerns that manufacturing corporations may be reluctant to share factory floor data containing confidential information for fear of leaks or hacking, he said, "Dassault Systèmes' cloud environment has strengthened security to the point that it is considered safer than most on-premises systems at manufacturing corporations."
He predicted that reshoring (the transfer of production facilities back to the home country) and manufacturing revival policies that began in the United States and Europe will spread worldwide, increasing demand for industry-specialized AI. Bassi said, "AI is optimized for reconstructing, organizing, and transmitting lost manufacturing knowledge, so it can play a key role in helping major countries strengthen their manufacturing capabilities."
Riding the wave of global manufacturing revitalization, Dassault Systèmes posted revenue of 1.1 billion euros (about 1.87 trillion won) last year, and said this year's revenue is expected to reach 1.2 billion euros (about 2 trillion won). Bassi said, "Our goal is to roughly double revenue to about 2.4 billion euros within 10 years."
Headquartered in France, Dassault Systèmes is a software corporation that provides AI-based Virtual Twin technology. A virtual twin is a technology that implements a virtual model identical to reality, creating a "twin" of an object in the real world in virtual space to run simulations and, based on that, predict outcomes in advance to optimize products and services. Corporations can design and simulate in virtual space products or environments that are expensive and difficult to build quickly in the real world, such as factory construction and automobile crash tests, to compensate for weaknesses and solve problems in advance.