A project to jointly develop domestic fabless and on-device AI semiconductor solutions has begun in earnest, with LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, Doosan Robotics, Daedong, and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) participating.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the 'AI Semiconductor Collaboration Forum' at the Westin Chosun in Seoul on the 20th and signed an MOU for the K-OnDevice AI Semiconductor Technology Development Project.

This MOU was signed by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, the Korea Fabless Industry Association, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Planning and Evaluation, Hyundai Motor Company, LG Electronics, Doosan Robotics, Daedong, and Korea Aerospace Industries.

Major companies will participate jointly from the planning stage of on-device AI semiconductor development to promote customized AI semiconductor design and commercialization.


This project is a full-stack development and verification project for on-device AI semiconductors, software, modules, and AI models in four major fields, and large-scale R&D investment is planned.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to quickly proceed with administrative procedures, such as applications for exemption from preliminary feasibility studies, to secure government budget for next year at the earliest.

This project will enable fabless and SW companies to strengthen their semiconductor design capabilities through large-scale demand generation and global collaboration.

In addition, industry-specific demand companies are expected to resolve uncertainty in the AI semiconductor supply chain by incorporating optimized, customized on-device AI semiconductors into their products.

The AI semiconductor industry is changing from the cloud-based ‘generative AI era’ to the ‘physical AI era’ in which each device (product) is equipped with customized AI.

Accordingly, the role of AI semiconductors is also changing from general-purpose and high-performance to demand-tailored and optimized, and the importance of low-latency and low-power semiconductors that can be installed in devices (such as smartphones) and perform AI inference calculations on their own without connection to the cloud or server is increasing.

On-device AI semiconductors are gaining attention as a key technology that will determine the future direction of AI development, with their strengths being real-time computing, high security, low network dependency, and low power consumption.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun said, “With the advent of the physical AI era, following Intel in the PC era, Apple in the mobile era, and Nvidia in the generative AI era, the global market is looking for a new owner,” and added, “The government will actively support the rapid advancement of the K-on-device AI semiconductor development project so that our country can lead the physical AI era.”It was done.