Alpha Holdings Selected for National Project on AI Semiconductor Development for Autonomous Driving Robots

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Alpha Holdings, a specialized company in system semiconductor SoC (System on Chip) design and design services, is undertaking a national project to develop autonomous driving robot artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors.

On the 15th, Alpha Holdings was selected for the national project “Intelligent Camera ISP (Image Signal Processor, hereafter ISP) SoC Development” led by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The lead research and development institution is Vitree, with Alpha Holdings and Seoul National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation serving as joint research and development institutions. The total development period is approximately 2 years and 9 months.

The background of this national project’s technology development is to support the development of low-power, high-performance camera application AI semiconductors required for small robots and to commercialize them.

According to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the global AI SoC market in 2024 is about 63 trillion KRW, with the domestic market around 2.5 trillion KRW, expected to grow at an average annual rate of 7.6%.

Additionally, the home service robot market is projected to reach about 35 trillion KRW globally and about 2.5 trillion KRW domestically in 2024, with an ultra-high average annual growth rate of 35.7%.

Recently, small mobile autonomous driving robots used in restaurants and hospitals are based on industrial PCs equipped with cameras, which consume a lot of power for AI computation. The number of cameras installed on these robots is increasing, and to extend usage time and improve efficiency, the development of dedicated semiconductors capable of low-power camera image AI computation is essential.

Alpha Holdings plans to collect information on the selected process and corresponding IPs to specify semiconductor standards, select the final IP accordingly, optimize the SoC bus structure, and be responsible for SoC RTL (Register-Transfer Level) design and verification.

After completing the development of the semiconductor and entering the mass production stage, Alpha Holdings will manage mask and wafer production schedules and databases with global foundry companies and handle packaging and testing.

An Alpha Holdings official stated, “The reason we were selected for this national project related to AI semiconductors is that our company possesses a large number of top-level SoC design personnel in Korea and has extensive experience in fine process SoC design such as 10 nanometers,” adding, “Through this national project, we plan to develop and internalize an SoC platform for AI and autonomous driving robots.”