Jeju Bio AI Center set for year-end completion; province seeks follow-up state funding from vice minister

【Financial News Jeju = Jeong Yongbok, Reporter】 Jeju has asked the government for follow-up state funding ahead of the end of its 23.2 billion won AI transformation project for bio companies. The plan is to use the 0.3 MW artificial intelligence (AI) data center being built by the end of this year to continue helping local small and medium-sized businesses adopt technology and improve production processes.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on the 27th, First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups No Yongseok visited the Jeju Techno Park Future Industry Center and Selix, a local bio company, that day to review progress on the “Region-Led AI Transformation Project.”
The visit was arranged to review progress on the “Project to Build Growth Engines for Jeju’s Small and Medium-Sized Bio Companies through AX,” selected for a Ministry of SMEs and Startups open call last October, and to assess how AI is being used at businesses. AX stands for AI Transformation. It refers to businesses applying AI in areas such as production, research and development, and quality control to improve their work practices and production processes.
Jeju is one of five regions nationwide selected last year by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for its Region-Led AI Transformation Project. The project is being carried out from October 2025 through December this year, with total funding of 23.2 billion won, including 13.9 billion won in state funds, 7 billion won from the provincial government, and 2.3 billion won in private capital.
The project includes introducing AI solutions at bio companies, improving production systems, demonstrating technologies, and building shared computing infrastructure. It is designed to let small and medium-sized businesses jointly use AI technologies and equipment that would be difficult for them to obtain individually.
As of last September, 31 businesses in Jeju were receiving AI transformation support: 12 for adopting AI solutions, three for production-system upgrades, six for proof-of-concept (PoC) projects, and 10 for AI dubbing. A PoC is a small-scale test to determine whether a new technology works in practice before it is deployed across a production site. Businesses can assess its potential uses and anticipated problems before deciding whether to adopt it.

Some businesses have also reported successful technology demonstrations. Jeju food company Yujei Plus introduced AI technology that analyzes the condition of raw tangerines and recommends suitable settings for the drying process. Results released last September showed that the accuracy of classifying acceptable raw produce rose from 70% to 85%, while the detection rate for unsuitable produce entering the process reached 100%.
Jeju’s request for follow-up state funding comes as the existing support project is set to end this year and the AI infrastructure needs to continue operating.
Jeju Techno Park is building the 0.3 MW Jeju Bio AI Center in Bio Center Building 1, targeting completion in December this year. The facility is to include 32 graphics processing units (GPUs) for AI computing, storage with a capacity of 1.3 petabytes (PB), and a cloud environment that restricts external access.
Once the center is built, local bio companies will be able to analyze data and test technologies without having to purchase expensive AI equipment themselves. Jeju Techno Park also ran a drive through the 26th of this month to recruit bio- and AI-related companies as potential partners that could use the center.
After receiving a briefing on the project’s progress at the Jeju Techno Park Future Industry Center that day, First Vice Minister No was asked by Lee Chang-heum, Jeju’s vice governor for climate and the economy, to support the follow-up project, “AI Transformation Plus,” with state funding.
The request is intended to secure additional support to expand AI technology demonstrations by small and medium-sized businesses using infrastructure built under the existing project, and to help them apply technologies tested on-site to actual production and research and development.

Jeju also noted that it had been selected in August this year for a K-Beauty export hub project and proposed ways to connect the region’s clean bio and wellness industries with AI technology.
In particular, the plan is to develop the clean bio and wellness industries identified as growth drivers for the Jeju region in the government’s “Five Poles, Three Special Zones National Balanced Growth Strategy,” and to use a small-scale AI center as a testbed for eco-friendly data centers integrated with renewable energy.
Jeju is separately planning a 40 MW AI data center project based on renewable energy. It is at the planning-study stage, with the goal of pursuing it as a national project between 2028 and 2032. Its scale and stage of development differ from those of the 0.3 MW Bio AI Center targeted for completion by the end of this year.
First Vice Minister No Yongseok then visited Selix, a bio and pharmaceutical company in Jeju City’s Advanced Science Complex, toured its production and research facilities, and heard the views of company representatives. Selix operates pharmaceutical production facilities and is participating in a demonstration project applying AI technology to bio manufacturing processes.
Vice Governor Lee Chang-heum said, “We will work to secure state funding for a follow-up project so that small and medium-sized businesses in the province can continue demonstrating and advancing artificial intelligence technologies.”


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