Mobilint said on Wednesday it signed an MOU with POSCO DX to jointly develop industrial AI solutions based on AI semiconductors. The companies plan to combine AI chip technology with industrial on-site operating capabilities to develop solutions applicable to manufacturing, robots, logistics and safety, and link the work to commercialisation.

The scope of cooperation includes joint development of AI hardware systems, proof-of-concept projects and technical verification for on-site application, identifying new cooperation tasks and commercialisation, and building a cooperation system based on a working-level consultative body. POSCO DX will support on-site application through key assets such as AI inference code, development environments and datasets, and its industrial automation platform PosMaster. Mobilint will be responsible for optimising AI algorithms and implementing on-device AI systems based on high-performance, low-power NPUs.

The companies plan to shift GPU-centric AI infrastructure to an NPU-based approach to pursue cost reductions and improved power efficiency at the same time. They will apply an edge AI structure that does not go through a data centre to secure security and real-time performance required at industrial sites. Mobilint has the only NPU in South Korea capable of running large language models in an edge environment, the company said.

Mobilint also plans to apply its NPU-based on-device AI technology to POSCO DX's industrial AI environment through this cooperation and link it to commercialisation after PoC work. POSCO DX plans to expand the application of edge AI technology to steel and secondary battery materials production sites, as well as to various industrial areas including logistics.

A Mobilint official said, "Through POSCO DX's strategic investment and cooperation, we have established a foundation to apply our AI semiconductor technology in earnest to manufacturing and industrial sites." The official said, "We will produce results that innovate AI infrastructure and accelerate intelligence across industry through AI that can run in edge environments."

A POSCO DX official said, "Through this cooperation, we will be able to secure LLM-based edge AI technology that is essential for implementing intelligent factories." The official stressed, "We will develop this not as a simple NPU supply relationship but into a successful cooperation and co-prosperity case with a domestic startup, so that the POSCO Group can establish itself as a company leading the paradigm shift in manufacturing AI."