The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Naver, and Intel are collaborating to establish a new artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor ecosystem. For this purpose, they are setting up the Naver·Intel Corporation·KAIST(NIK) AI Joint Research Center and planning to merge their respective technologies and capacities to develop a new AI semiconductor ecosystem while taking proactive steps to secure market and technology leadership.
KAIST signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Naver Cloud on April 30th to establish and operate the NIK AI Joint Research Center at the main KAIST campus in Daejeon. Following this MOU, the NIK AI Joint Research Center will be set up at KAIST during the first half of this year and will start full-fledged research in July.
The center will develop advanced open-source software (SW) to improve the performance of AI semiconductors, AI servers and clouds, and data centers and optimize their operation.
The joint research center will operate for three years, with the possibility of an extension depending on the research results and the needs of the participating institutions. Approximately 20 professors and over 100 master’s and doctoral students from KAIST, experts in AI and SW fields, will participate as researchers. The joint research center established at KAIST will serve as the core research center.
Intel’s establishment and support of a joint research center at a Korean university to develop open-source SW for optimally running its AI semiconductor GAUDI beyond traditional CPUs is a first for KAIST.
A KAIST representative emphasized that “Intel’s choice of Naver and KAIST as partners for the development of open-source software in the AI and semiconductor fields is of great strategic significance.” They added, “The combination of the various AI service capabilities based on the Naver Cloud platform, Intel’s next-generation AI chip technology, and the world-class specialists and KAIST’s world-class expertise and SW research capabilities will successfully create a creative and innovative ecosystem in the AI semiconductor sector that differs from existing ones.”
Key figures attended the agreement signing ceremony, including KAIST President Lee Kwang Hyung, Provost and Executive Vice President Lee Gyun Min, Vice President for Research Lee Sang Yup, Professor Kim Jung Ho from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu Won, AI Innovation Center Director Ha Jung Woo, and Director Lee Dong Soo, who is in charge of Hyperscale AI.
