Gwangju City Launches Development of 'Gwangju-type AI Semiconductor'

Poetry, AimFuture Investment Agreement... Gwangju Corporation Planned
Expectations for Core Technology Development, Talent Nurturing, and Job Creation

Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung is taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement to revitalize the artificial intelligence and semiconductor industry ecosystem in the city hall's conference room on the morning of the 25th.
[Photo by Gwangju City]

Gwangju City is attracting the fabless semiconductor company AimFuture Co., Ltd. and embarking on the development of a ‘Gwangju-type Artificial Intelligence (AI) Semiconductor’ that integrates with regional strategic industries.

On the 25th, Gwangju City signed a business agreement with AimFuture Co., Ltd., a company developing neural processing units (NPU) efficient for AI network processing, at the city hall’s medium conference room. This is the second fabless company attracted following Aijicland Co., Ltd. last month. The signing ceremony was attended by Mayor Kang Gi-jung, AimFuture CEO Kim Chang-su and company officials, Oh Sang-jin, head of the AI Industry Convergence Project Group, Kim Young-jip, director of Gwangju Technopark, and other related institution heads.

AimFuture Co., Ltd. is a startup founded in 2020 by researchers who were studying core AI technologies at LG Electronics’ North America Research Institute in Silicon Valley, USA, and provides AI solutions.

According to the agreement, the city will provide administrative support and establish a cooperation network among government, industry, academia, and research institutes, while AimFuture will develop ‘Gwangju-type AI semiconductor’ technology, nurture and hire local talent in semiconductor design, and establish a Gwangju corporation or local office to create jobs.

AimFuture, together with previously attracted companies, will develop terminal-type AI (on-device AI) semiconductor chips and solutions that can be integrated with regional strategic industries as ‘Gwangju-type AI semiconductors.’ They will also collaborate with local related organizations to verify the feasibility (PoC) of Gwangju-type AI semiconductors linked to regional strategic industries. Additionally, they will build a cooperative network to apply Gwangju-type AI semiconductor chips to products of local demand companies.

Mayor Kang Gi-jung emphasized, “South Korea’s AI industry is centered in Gwangju, and thanks to AI infrastructure such as the national data center, numerous companies are coming to Gwangju. We will concentrate the capabilities of companies and institutions to surely succeed in the AI semiconductor cluster model.”