AI semiconductor company DeepX announced on the 8th that it has signed an industry-academic cooperation agreement with Seoul National University's Artificial Intelligence Semiconductor Graduate School to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic AI semiconductor industry.

At this signing ceremony, attended by Kim Nok-won, CEO of DeepX, and Lee Hyuk-jae, head of the AI Semiconductor Graduate School Business Group at Seoul National University, the two organizations signed a business agreement to secure global standards for AI semiconductors.

Seoul National University's AI Semiconductor Graduate School was opened with the goal of fostering master's and doctoral level talents with design and software capabilities in the AI semiconductor field to enhance technological competitiveness and to foster AI semiconductor talents who will lead the world in creating future new technologies through domestic AI semiconductor research.

The collaboration between the two organizations began with the recognition of the problem that there is no accurate and fair on-device AI semiconductor evaluation standard that can be referenced in various on-device AI application fields. Existing AI semiconductor benchmarks have been criticized for being practically meaningless as they are based on old algorithms and do not include various algorithms used in actual industrial fields.

The goal is to develop a new benchmark that reflects the various AI algorithms and evaluation factors required by the global on-device AI industry, enabling rapid and accurate evaluations in the global market and helping select solutions for each field.

Seoul National University's AI Semiconductor Graduate School will develop a quality performance evaluation test platform technology that will provide a fair and reliable evaluation of edge AI semiconductors by receiving technology and information on the latest AI algorithms and evaluation factors obtained through development collaboration with over 100 global companies by DeepX. It is expected that this benchmark platform will encourage technological innovation in AI semiconductors and accelerate technology commercialization by providing an optimized performance evaluation platform for each demand field.

In addition, Seoul National University plans to develop and provide world-class benchmark platform-related educational programs and competitions to foster AI semiconductor experts, expand the base of benchmark platform technology, and revitalize the edge AI semiconductor industry ecosystem.

In addition, Seoul National University and DeepX plan to produce educational materials and hardware and software development kits for on-device AI semiconductors, and develop an AI semiconductor education curriculum. We plan to develop university practical training materials and related courses within the year and apply them to various universities in Korea, and expand them so that they can be used in global university curricula.

CEO Kim Nok-won said, “In the past, we relied entirely on foreign products for educational materials and development kits related to CPUs and GPUs, but this collaboration is very meaningful in that it attempts to develop a world-class NPU-based educational curriculum and expand it globally.” He added, “If Seoul National University’s academic research capabilities and DeepX’s AI semiconductor technology work together, we will have the opportunity to establish educational programs and evaluation standards that can contribute to the global AI semiconductor industry.”

Director Lee Hyuk-jae of the business division emphasized, “Through the cooperation between Seoul National University and DeepX, practical education and commercialization of academic achievements will become possible, which will greatly contribute to fostering talent in the AI semiconductor field.” He also added, “The two institutions will actively cooperate to create future value in the AI semiconductor field, which is a strategic asset for the country.”