[Chip Talk] LG Electronics Gains Confidence with Tenstorrent Partnership... 'Chiplet' Wings Take Off

After Developing On-Device AI Chip 'DQ-C'
Partnering with Tenstorrent
New Challenge in One and a Half Years
'Chiplet' Technology Assembled Like Lego Blocks
Multiple Semiconductors Integrated into One Chip
Advantages: Reduced Production Costs and Diverse Functions
SoC Center Designs Home Appliance-Specific Chips
33 Years of Dedicated Chip Design Expertise Accumulated
Leading Home Appliance Semiconductor Pioneer’s Achievement

LG Electronics is applying 'chiplet' technology to its next-generation AI semiconductor for home appliances, currently under ambitious development. The plan is to create customized chips as chiplets that are embedded within home appliances to enable fast and accurate AI operation. This marks another challenge about a year and a half after independently developing its own on-device AI chip, 'DQ-C,' in February last year.

They have also gained a strong ally. Tenstorrent, a renowned Canadian semiconductor startup led by CEO Jim Keller, known as the 'legend of semiconductors,' is lending its support. The collaboration between the two companies, which began around mid-last year, is expected to accelerate further following a recent face-to-face meeting and handshake between their leaders.

According to industry sources on the 16th, LG Electronics has been putting significant effort into developing a home appliance-customized on-device AI chip incorporating chiplet technology since the beginning of this year. The development was officially announced at the 8th AI Semiconductor Forum held on March 16 at the AC Hotel by Marriott Seoul Gangnam, and about two weeks later, on April 7, LG Electronics CEO Jo Joo-wan and Tenstorrent CEO Keller met at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, accompanied by key executives from both companies. With the heads of both companies meeting and shaking hands, it is expected that AI chip development through chiplets will proceed smoothly. The development process is likely to involve Tenstorrent transferring its proprietary technology, based on which LG Electronics will design system semiconductors for home appliances. In particular, LG Electronics has been paying close attention to Tenstorrent's chiplet technology. Tenstorrent has chosen chiplets as a future semiconductor technology that offers low cost, efficient power usage, and enhanced performance, making it the company's flagship technology and accumulating development know-how. This know-how will be provided to LG Electronics going forward. Based on this, the chip design created by LG Electronics will be entrusted to foundries such as Samsung Electronics, Intel, and TSMC for manufacturing into physical products. LG Electronics plans to first apply this chip to TVs. Through the chip, improvements in picture and sound quality are expected, and in home appliances, consumer convenience is anticipated to increase. Plans have also been made to introduce the technology to a wider range of home appliance fields thereafter.

LG Electronics CEO Jo Joo-wan and Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller. Photo by LG Electronics

Chiplets Assembled Like Lego Blocks

Chiplets are a technology that assembles multiple semiconductors into a single chip. Compared to traditional manufacturing methods that carve wafers, chiplets offer higher productivity and the ability to diversify functions. Experts refer to chiplets as a 'Lego-like package' because the assembly of multiple semiconductors into one chip resembles children assembling various colored and shaped blocks into a single Lego creation. It is rumored in the industry that engineers from global companies actually conceived chiplet technology inspired by Lego.

Chiplets are gaining significant attention because they reduce chip production costs while enhancing performance, making them highly efficient. Not all chips within a chiplet need to be manufactured using fine processes. For example, if a chip assembles a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), SRAM, and modem, only the CPU might be finely manufactured using a 4-nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) process, while the other chips could be produced using 7-8 nm processes, yet the overall chip can achieve performance comparable to a chip made entirely with a 4 nm process.

However, aside from companies like AMD, Intel, and Tenstorrent, few firms are proficient in chiplet technology. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also dedicating efforts to research and development. Market research firm MarketsandMarkets estimated that the global chiplet market size was $6.5 billion (approximately 9.1273 trillion KRW) in 2022 but is expected to soar to $148 billion (approximately 207 trillion KRW) by 2028.

Confidence Gained Through Collaboration

According to industry sources, LG Electronics gained confidence around June last year that applying chiplet technology to home appliance-customized AI chips could achieve top performance. At that time, LG Electronics agreed to receive Tenstorrent's AI and RISC-V CPU technologies to enable AI and high-performance computing in its premium TVs and other products. To strengthen TV SoC competitiveness, they decided to utilize chiplet technology. During this process, an experiment was conducted applying Tenstorrent's chiplet technology to an actual TV SoC, and LG Electronics reportedly expressed considerable satisfaction with the results. Recently, home appliances are being demanded to be 'all-purpose.' Consumers want a single product to perform multiple functions; for example, a washing machine is expected to absorb the functions of a dryer. LG Electronics appears to have judged that chiplets could be the answer for on-device AI chips embedded in such home appliances. Because chiplets assemble semiconductors that perform computing, storage, communication, and other roles into one, they can help home appliances perform multiple functions.

SoC Center Paving the Way for 'Fabless'

LG Electronics seems to be solidifying its position as a leader in the 'home appliance semiconductor' field by leaving its own mark in the market with the home appliance on-device AI chips currently under development. This is the achievement of the SoC Center. LG Electronics operates the SoC Center under its CTO division like a 'fabless' company (a company specializing in semiconductor design without manufacturing plants). The chip designs developed by the SoC Center are entrusted to Samsung Electronics, TSMC, and Intel for production into physical products. The center originated from the ASIC Center of Geumseong Central Research Institute established in 1992. Over about 33 years, the center has accumulated know-how in home appliance chip design and achieved remarkable milestones. These include the world's first DTV chipset in 1997, terrestrial/satellite DMB chip in 2005, LTE chip in 2008, and 4K/8K image quality and OLED TV chips in 2016. In February last year, it released the 'DQ-C chip,' an on-device AI chip for home appliances. This AI chip was independently developed by the center after more than three years of research and development.