Summary：Mobilint touts NPU for physical AI, with CEO urging South Korea to accelerate development **Introdu
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Mobilint touts NPU for physical AI, with CEO urging South Korea to accelerate development
**Introduction**
South Korea’s AI semiconductor scene is heating up as Mobilint, a homegrown startup, pushes its neural processing units (NPU) into the realm of physical AI. While cloud‑based models continue to dominate headlines, the real‑time demands of robots, autonomous vehicles and drones are creating a fresh market for edge‑focused chips. Mobilint’s CEO Shin Dong‑joo argues that the nation must move faster to nurture this hardware ecosystem, warning that delays could cede leadership to overseas rivals.
**Key Developments**
Mobilint recently unveiled its second‑generation NPU, designed specifically for low‑latency inference on edge devices. The chip delivers up to 15 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) while consuming under 2 watts, a figure the company says outperforms many incumbent solutions in robotics and drone navigation. Early adopters include a domestic autonomous‑vehicle testbed and a drone‑swarm startup, both of which reported a 30 % reduction in processing lag after integrating Mobilint’s silicon.
In parallel, the firm secured a Series A round worth KRW 120 billion, led by local venture capitalists and strategic investors from the semiconductor equipment sector. The funding will expand the company’s fab‑less design team and accelerate tape‑out of a third‑generation NPU targeting automotive‑grade safety standards (ISO 26262).
**Industry Analysis**
The shift from cloud‑centric AI to physical AI is reshaping semiconductor demand. Analysts at Counterpoint Research note that edge AI chip sales are projected to grow at a CAGR of 28 % through 2028, driven by proliferation of IoT devices that require on‑device decision making. South Korea, already a memory‑chip powerhouse, faces a strategic gap in logic‑focused AI
