AI chip specialist Mobilint said on Thursday it signed a strategic business agreement with space medicine specialist Spacelintek to jointly develop AI-based space payload technology. The agreement was pursued to combine the two companies' core capabilities and technologies and set the direction and scope of AI technology cooperation for use in the space industry.

The companies will combine AI technology using Mobilint's NPU with technologies applicable to the space environment to explore joint development and applications of space industry-related technologies. They plan to cooperate on optimising low-power AI semiconductor solutions suited to the space environment and on areas where technology can be applied in connection with the space industry.

They will mutually use their resources, including personnel, facilities, equipment and technologies, for technology development. They will also cooperate on internal and external promotion and the spread of technology based on joint research results. The companies plan to expand the potential use of AI technology in the space industry, build a medium- to long-term cooperative relationship based on their technological competitiveness, and discuss specific joint research and commercialisation going forward.

Mobilint CEO Dong-ju Shin (신동주) said it would be an important opportunity to extend Mobilint's NPU technology, which is strong in on-device and edge AI, into the space environment. He said cooperation with Spacelintek would create practical value for AI use in the space industry.

Spacelintek CEO Hak-soon Yoon (윤학순) said onboard AI capabilities are important for space medicine payloads to immediately judge and process data generated in orbit and to detect anomalies on their own to reduce operational risks. He said the companies would combine their technological capabilities to implement an intelligent space medicine research module and connect it to commercially viable platform technology results.