DEEPX has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. to further develop its artificial intelligence semiconductor technology designed for robots.
Hyundai Motor is the parent company of Kia Corp., and they both share a robotics lab at the Uiwang R&D Center in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. The companies have used DEEPX's technology as part of a proof-of-concept phase over the past year to run algorithms that allow robots to smoothly complete their tasks.
DEEPX said its semiconductor technology demonstrated that it offers high AI computational efficiency and low power operation, making it suitable for mass production.
The proof of concept also “demonstrated outstanding AI performance by providing higher AI accuracy with INT8bit than FP32bit,” the company claimed.
Hyundai tasks DEEPX with enhancing its robots' AI capabilities
As part of the agreement, Hyundai and Kia plan to take this technology out of development, commercialize it and then mass-produce it. The companies said they will integrate DEEPX's system-on-chip (SoC) into their own products that are being developed at the robotics lab.
“I expect we can lead the excellent robotics service development in both performance and price by combining the SW technology of the Robotics Lab and DEEPX's HW technology,” said Dong Jin-Hyun, leader of the Hyundai and Kia Robotics Lab. “As soon as we confirm and examine the superiority of DEEPX NPU chip products, we will carry on with further cooperation and apply it to the robot that is under research and development.”
Tokyo-based DEEPX said it has developed four kinds of AI semiconductors and has secured more than 150 patents related to fundamental AI semiconductor technology. The company said its semiconductors are “optimized for performance and function that can match with various edge and server AI application fields.”
“According to the global market research data, the size of global smart mobility is expected to grow to be about $145 billion by the year 2027,” added DEEPX CEO Lok-Won Kim. “For the AI semiconductor, the core technology of this market, there are currently no optimized solutions for each detailed fields, therefore it is possible to lead the market if a mass production-ready solution is prepared
“Having technology cooperation with the global market leader Hyundai Motors and Kia Corp. will present DEEPX's AI semiconductor an opportunity to become the core solution of the future market in the related field,” he added. “This is a great inspiration for us. DEEPX has succeeded in commercializing NPU IP [neural processing unit intellectual property] in 2021, and I am grateful to earn the chance to demonstrate the test for mass-production as soon as we reach NPU development milestone this year”.