From TV to Mobility... LG Electronics Expands AI Ecosystem by Partnering with 'Semiconductor Legend'

CEO Jo Joo-wan Meets Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller
Discuss Strategic Collaboration to Strengthen On-Device AI Technology
Anticipate Synergy from Utilizing Both Companies' Semiconductor Design Assets

LG Electronics is accelerating the development of technology to apply artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors across various industries, from home appliances to mobility, by partnering with legendary American semiconductor developer Jim Keller. LG Electronics aims to secure competitiveness in high-performance system semiconductor design and production through chiplet technology, utilizing TensTorrent's semiconductor intellectual property (IP) and AI computation-specialized neural processing units (NPU). AI solutions are expected to be applied quickly and flexibly across diverse application fields.

LG Electronics announced on the 12th that earlier this month, Cho Ju-wan, CEO of LG Electronics, and Jim Keller, CEO of AI semiconductor design company TensTorrent, met at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, to discuss strategic collaboration to strengthen on-device (embedded) AI technology capabilities.

The collaboration between the two companies started with the goal of implementing AI across various business areas, including AI home appliances, smart homes, mobility, and video-related server processors. To achieve this, they plan to utilize the semiconductor IP and various technologies each company possesses.

Earlier this month, Jo Joo-wan, CEO of LG Electronics, and Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, met at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul to discuss strategic collaboration and took a commemorative photo. Photo by LG Electronics

In particular, to proactively prepare for future businesses, they will strengthen capabilities in the system semiconductor field centered on chiplet technology. A chiplet is a small chip that performs a specific function, and multiple chiplets can be combined to be used as a single system. This allows flexible development of customized SoCs (System on Chip) tailored to customer requirements.

LG Electronics partnered with TensTorrent because it highly values the open-source, low-power semiconductor IP RISC-V central processing unit (CPU) and the Tensix NPU specialized for AI algorithm operation. RISC-V is a design method used to create CPUs, which act as the brain of computers or smartphones. Typically, CPUs operate by following a set of instructions, and the rules grouping these instructions are called the 'instruction set.' RISC-V has made this instruction set publicly available for free, allowing anyone to use it. It enables the creation of CPUs that operate faster while consuming less power and is well-suited for technologies requiring complex calculations like AI.

Most semiconductor companies do not develop all IP themselves. They license necessary IP and independently develop only differentiated IP to integrate into SoCs. The future semiconductor design method gaining attention is purchasing at the chiplet level. For example, when developing semiconductors for automobiles, it is possible to purchase AMD’s x86 chiplets or high-performance RISC-V CPU chiplets and package them with proprietary differentiated chiplets to create a completed SoC.

The two companies are also discussing personnel exchange plans. Through mutual internship programs, LG personnel can gain practical experience in the AI semiconductor fabless field at TensTorrent’s U.S. site, while TensTorrent staff can learn how AI semiconductors are utilized in LG Electronics’ actual manufacturing sites.

This collaboration is a continuation of the cooperative relationship established after LG Electronics and TensTorrent signed a win-win cooperation agreement in June last year. In June, Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, visited the U.S. to review business strategies and met with Jim Keller, CEO, to hear explanations about AI semiconductor trends and TensTorrent’s technology and discuss changes in the semiconductor industry due to AI proliferation.

On June 20th (local time), Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group (right), is taking a commemorative photo with Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, in Silicon Valley, USA. Photo by LG Corporation

LG Electronics’ AI vision of implementing 'Affectionate Intelligence' is also expected to gain momentum. 'Affectionate Intelligence' is a term first mentioned by CEO Cho Ju-wan at CES 2024 earlier this year. He said, "We redefined AI as 'Affectionate Intelligence' in the sense that AI considers and empathizes with users to provide differentiated customer experiences." He added, "The 'LG AI Brain' we are developing understands the context of conversations, behavior patterns, and emotions to predict customer needs, followed by an advanced reasoning process based on a proprietary large language model (LLM)."

Additionally, LG Electronics envisions cars as 'wheeled living spaces' driven by software-defined vehicle (SDV) solutions, so this AI semiconductor collaboration is expected to increase applicability across multiple fields.

CEO Cho Ju-wan stated, "The AI capabilities and RISC-V technology possessed by TensTorrent are among the industry’s best. Through close cooperation, LG Electronics will implement Affectionate Intelligence that understands customers based on generative AI and provides differentiated experiences."

Jim Keller, CEO, said, "As a global technology leader, LG Electronics has an excellent SoC development organization, so through strategic collaboration, the two companies will be able to provide customer-tailored solutions." LG Electronics has a fabless 'SIC Center' responsible for SoC design. Semiconductors designed at the SIC Center are outsourced for production to external foundries such as TSMC. Since the 1990s, LG Electronics has independently developed TV chips, modem chips, and system semiconductors.