[AAA2023] "Catching Nvidia"... AI Semiconductor Company Sapion Wins Technology Innovation Award

Native AI semiconductor design company Sapeon received the Technology Innovation Award at the '2023 Asia AI Awards' ceremony held on the 20th at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Sapeon was established through a joint investment of 80 billion KRW by three ICT subsidiaries under the SK Group: SK Telecom, SK Square, and SK Hynix. After spinning off from SK Telecom in 2021, the company has been targeting global big tech companies as its main clients, using Silicon Valley as its forward base.

On the 20th, at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, Woo Byung-hyun, CEO of Asia Economy, is taking a commemorative photo with Sapeon, which received the Technology Innovation Award at the '2023 Asia AI Awards' ceremony. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

In 2020, Sapeon launched 'X220,' the first commercial AI semiconductor in Korea. The X220, designed for data centers, performs calculations 1.5 times faster than GPUs with similar specifications. Meanwhile, its power consumption is only 80% of that of comparable GPUs. Sapeon applied its AI semiconductor to SK Telecom's AI speaker 'NUGU,' increasing service capacity by up to five times compared to before. The company also supplied its products to broadcasting equipment of Castdara, a joint venture of Sinclair Group, the second-largest TV broadcaster in the U.S. The product plays a role in converting low-resolution images to high-resolution in real time.

Last month, Sapeon introduced its new product, the 'X330.' It offers four times the inference performance of the X220 and more than twice the power efficiency. Based on its proprietary technology, Sapeon plans to expand its presence in the AI semiconductor market, which is expected to reach 150 trillion KRW by 2030. The company is committed to leading the localization of AI semiconductors, which currently rely entirely on imports.