Fabless (semiconductor design) corporations DeepX said on the 21st that it will proceed with Hyundai Motor Group's Robotics Lab to develop a next-generation physical artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform for robots. The two companies will jointly develop an AI computing architecture that can run large Generative AI models in real time inside robots and, based on this, plan to build a physical AI platform for robots.
The collaboration goes beyond technology exchange and focuses on co-designing the core computing infrastructure of the next-generation robot platform. In the robotics industry, VLA (Vision-Language-Action) and VLM (Vision-Language Model) technologies, which perceive the surrounding environment, understand language commands and then decide actions on their own, are emerging as core technologies.
To that end, the two companies will collaborate in areas such as ultra-low-power AI Semiconductor architecture, AI computing hardware systems for robots, physical AI software stacks and robot application AI libraries. The goal is to build an integrated AI computing platform that can process large AI models in real time inside robots.
The collaboration will utilize DeepX's next-generation AI Semiconductor DX-M2. The DX-M2 is scheduled to be produced on Samsung Electronics' 2-nanometer (nm; 1 nm is one-billionth of a meter) process and is a semiconductor focused on running large AI models in low power in physical AI environments such as robots, autonomous mobility and industrial automation. The company said it expects that, because it is designed to perform AI computation directly inside robots, it can improve autonomy and response speed.
The AI industry is expanding from data center–centric operations to the real world, including robots, industrial equipment and autonomous mobility. Accordingly, the importance of low-power AI computing platforms that can process complex AI computations in real time inside robots is also growing.
DeepX and Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Lab have jointly developed edge brain technology for robots based on low-power AI Semiconductors over the past three years. Building on this, the latest collaboration broadens the scope to next-generation robot AI technology. The two companies plan to expand cooperation to a variety of robot platforms going forward.
Kim Nok-won, CEO of DeepX, said, "In the era of physical AI, ultra-low-power computing technology that can run AI in real-world systems such as robots, cars and industrial devices will become core infrastructure." Hyun Dong-jin, head of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Lab (senior vice president), said, "We are building a core technology ecosystem, including On-device AI computing, with specialized partners at home and abroad."