Nanjing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (NISCO) has commercially deployed the world's first steel model powered by swarm intelligence, the YuanYe Steel Large Model (YuanYe), across multiple scenarios at scale. Developed with Huawei and ecosystem partners, the deployment marks a shift from experience-based operations to data- and intelligence-driven collaboration, according to an announcement carried by Media OutReach Newswire.
YuanYe fuses multiple AI models with the steel industry's metallurgical mechanism models to create a dual-drive, multi-model cluster architecture, featuring a "right brain" for probabilistic computing and a "left brain" for precise decision-making. Powered by massive sensing data from millions of operational technology data points across 26 business domains, NISCO has achieved real-time digital twin mapping in its intelligent operations center. The company reports that 100% of key equipment is now connected and digitally controlled, new product R&D cycles have been shortened by 50%, and annual costs have been reduced by over CNY100 million (approx. US$15 million).
The model has delivered breakthroughs in four core scenarios. In ironmaking, AI predicts furnace temperatures and identifies issues two hours in advance with over 90% accuracy, increasing prime-grade molten iron yield by over 10% while cutting unit energy consumption. In rolling, the rolling-force prediction model achieves millisecond-level response, narrowing thickness tolerance to ±0.2 mm and reducing steel thickness deviation to 1.9%, with the rolling-force hit rate jumping from 88% to 98%, supporting annual output of over 2.5 million tons of steel plates and increasing overall yield rate by 0.5%. In quality inspection, an integrated smart metallographic inspection system has doubled efficiency, raising inspection accuracy to over 95% and reducing per-sample inspection time from 10 minutes to 3–5 minutes. In energy and environmental control, the S-Link Intelligent Agent for Gas and Flue Gas Sulfur Control integrates 602 process parameters to issue sulfur-risk warnings one hour in advance with over 95% accuracy, slashing natural gas co-firing consumption by nearly 50% and reducing downtime caused by emission exceedance by over 25%, delivering more than CNY600,000 (approx. US$90,000) in annual economic benefits.
Li Jinyan, General Manager of the Digital and Intelligent Integrated Development Department and Director of the AI Research Institute at NISCO, said digital and intelligent transformation is human-centric and aims to unleash human potential, not replace people. To date, NISCO has deployed over 300 AI models across its plants, alongside more than 1,000 low-code agents and lightweight applications built independently by frontline employees. Cheng Yongfu, Senior Industrial Solution Expert at Huawei's Steel & Non-ferrous BU, noted that the real value of industrial AI is realized when it expands from single-point applications to comprehensive integration with production, operations, and management.
Looking ahead, NISCO will team up with Huawei and other partners to explore dedicated data centers for smart steel plants, centered on an AI-native three-tier architecture and powered by YuanYe, aiming to provide a replicable benchmark for the digital and intelligent transformation of the global steel and manufacturing industries.
