Electronics and Semiconductor Industry Launches Full-Scale AI Competition for Future Core Technologies

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The electronics and semiconductor industries are strengthening their artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, which are the future core growth engines and will lead the 4th Industrial Revolution era.

According to the industry on the 2nd, Samsung Electronics will hold the '7th Samsung Open Source Conference 2020' online on the 14th. The Samsung Open Source Conference is the largest open source conference in Korea, where about 2,000 software developers gather in one place to share information and insights on the latest technologies based on open source such as 5G, AI, robotics, and big data.

This year, the conference will be operated with 7 keynote speeches and 16 sessions, including lectures by renowned open source leaders from home and abroad. The conference will begin with a greeting from Seunghyun Jun, President of Samsung Research, followed by a keynote speech by Seungbeom Choi, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research, on 'The Role of Samsung Electronics Open Source in the Next Normal Era.' Keynote speeches will continue with Jim Zemlin, Chairman of the Linux Foundation, and Denise Cooper, Chairperson of the InnerSource Commons Foundation, which encourages development and collaboration using open source within companies.

Earlier, Samsung Electronics appointed Seunghyun Jun, a leading AI scholar and professor at Princeton University in the United States, as the head of Samsung Research, Samsung Electronics' integrated research organization, in the first half of this year. President Jun oversees future new technologies and convergence technology research at 15 global R&D centers in 13 countries and 7 AI centers.

LG Electronics participated last month in the industry-academia-research cooperation event 'AI One Team Summit 2020,' which discusses strengthening AI industry competitiveness. AI One Team is an industry-academia-research cooperation body aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic AI industry, with 9 institutions conducting joint research. LG Electronics introduced cooperative projects it has been conducting with KT and LG Uplus.

They are also discovering services that enhance customers' smart home experiences by linking smart home appliances with KT's home Internet of Things (IoT) service. Verification related to this is being conducted at 'LG ThinQ Home,' established by LG Electronics in the Pangyo New Town, Gyeonggi Province.

Previously, LG also expanded the domestic AI ecosystem by signing a research cooperation agreement with the Seoul National University AI Institute. LG strengthens networks in the AI field through regular research outcome exchange meetings with the Seoul National University AI Institute and fosters talent through joint research, internships, and personnel exchanges.

SK Hynix also launched 'Gauss Labs,' an industrial AI specialized company leading manufacturing innovation through AI solutions, last month. This is the first time SK Group has established a separate corporation by positioning an AI specialized company. The capital is about 55 million dollars, fully invested by SK Hynix until 2022.

Gauss Labs aims to innovate semiconductor manufacturing through AI by utilizing vast data generated at SK Hynix's manufacturing sites to develop AI solutions that maximize production efficiency. Through this, SK Hynix will promote intelligence and optimization across the entire semiconductor production process, including process management, yield prediction, equipment maintenance, material measurement, defect inspection, and defect prevention.

Professor Younghan Kim, a tenured professor at UCSD and a distinguished member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a world-renowned data science expert, was appointed as CEO of Gauss Labs. CEO Kim has been working as a data research fellow at SK Hynix since last year. Gauss Labs plans to expand its business to SK Group's manufacturing-related affiliates in energy, bio, and other sectors, as well as customers worldwide.