Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Global adoption of Physical AI chips accelerates as industry demand expands across robotics, smart factories, and edge AI — backed by a growing partner ecosystem and an early global supply chain spanning Asia, North America, and Europe.

SEOUL, South Korea, March 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DEEPX, a Seoul-based fabless semiconductor company developing ultra-low-power AI inference chips for physical AI applications, has secured 27 commercial purchase orders across eight countries within seven months of starting mass production of its first-generation AI chip — a pace that industry observers describe as highly unusual for an emerging fabless company at such an early stage of commercialization.

The orders span seven major Physical AI application domains, including robotics, smart factories, edge AI servers, industrial AI, surveillance, AI IT services, and smart cities, with deployments now active across Asia, North America, and Europe.

Global Expansion at Unusual Speed

The ramp-up was slow at first: only two orders came in during the first five months after production began. But the company added 25 additional orders in less than three months in 2026, indicating rapidly accelerating commercial adoption.

While some semiconductor startups have achieved limited international shipments, DEEPX's simultaneous expansion across multiple countries and application domains at this pace is highly unusual, according to industry observers. The company's chips are now being deployed across eight countries spanning Asia, North America, and Europe.

Early Global Supply Chain Execution

DEEPX established a global distribution network early in its commercialization phase through partnerships with Avnet, DigiKey, and WPG. Industry analysts note that it is rare for an emerging fabless semiconductor company to secure a global supply chain at such an early stage of mass production.

In Europe, DEEPX signed a distribution agreement with Avnet Silica — the European arm of Avnet — establishing a regional supply chain ahead of broader market entry. Avnet Silica has already identified more than 30 prospective customers across high-performance embedded segments including smart city infrastructure, autonomous mobile robots (AMR), machine vision, and smart factories. Both companies are actively expanding purchase contracts as European industrial demand for edge AI inference accelerates.

Partner Ecosystem: From Silicon Vendors to AI Software Leaders

A key driver of DEEPX's commercial momentum is a cross-industry partner ecosystem spanning semiconductor vendors, industrial computing platforms, and open-source AI software leaders — reflecting a deliberate strategy to position its silicon as an embedded AI standard rather than a point solution.

Renesas Electronics: Has integrated DEEPX NPUs into more than three types of industrial boards combining Renesas application processors, delivering solutions applicable to smart factory deployments. The collaboration between a tier-one AP semiconductor company and an AI chip startup has been widely noted as an uncommon signal of hardware ecosystem maturity.

Sixfab and Raspberry Pi: Have jointly developed and released an AI HAT module built around the DX-M1, alongside a real-time smart traffic analysis solution using the CES 2026 Best of Innovation-winning 'ALPON X5' AI PC that integrates DEEPX products.

AAEON (ASUS subsidiary), IEI, WeLink, Endrich, Toradex, and Lanner: Industrial system developers have deployed customized AI hardware solutions for smart cities, automated logistics, and security systems powered by DEEPX chips, extending the company's reach across diverse embedded application segments.

Ultralytics & Network Optix: Ultralytics, developer of the widely-adopted YOLO vision AI model family, has demonstrated 'Open-Source Physical AI Alliance' workloads running on the DEEPX NPU with a one-click deployment flow. Network Optix has validated an intelligent Video Management System capable of managing thousands of camera feeds simultaneously using DEEPX inference.

New Products: DX-M1M and DX-AIPlayer

Alongside its commercial order momentum, DEEPX has launched two mass-production product lines designed to reduce integration friction for industrial developers across its key markets:

DX-M1M (M.2 Module): A standard M.2 form factor module embedding the DX-M1 AI chip, designed to drop into existing industrial PCs and edge servers. The format allows customers to add powerful AI inference capability without redesigning hardware, significantly lowering the barrier to deployment.

DX-AIPlayer: An edge AI acceleration solution integrating the DEEPX NPU with a high-efficiency CPU board. Positioned as a 'one-stop' platform covering the full workflow from model development to industrial deployment, the product enables developers to implement vision AI applications without complex integration overhead.

Large-Scale Global PoC Strategy

The company attributes its rapid adoption to a large-scale pre-production engagement strategy. In the semiconductor industry, it typically takes 9 to 18 months from PoC initiation to full production deployment in customer applications. To shorten this cycle, DEEPX began working with customers well before mass production began.

Over more than one year prior to production, the company collaborated with approximately 350 global companies, supporting proof-of-concept testing and system integration. This approach created a large pipeline of customers already familiar with the silicon and ready to transition into commercial orders once production began.

Physical AI Moving from Concept to Reality

CEO Lokwon Kim pointed to the growing volume of PoC activity as the clearest signal that physical AI is no longer a forward-looking concept. "Many people still view Physical AI as a concept for the future. But when we look at the growing number of PoC projects with global companies today, it becomes clear that Physical AI is already becoming a reality," he said.

On the commercial order milestone, Kim was direct. "Securing 27 commercial orders within seven months is one of the early signs that this transition is already happening in the industry."

With distribution in place across Asia, North America, and Europe, and a partner ecosystem spanning silicon vendors, industrial platform makers, and open-source AI software leaders, DEEPX appears positioned to expand its commercial footprint across multiple regions simultaneously. If the current order velocity holds, the company's ambition to establish its NPU as the default physical AI inference chip for embedded developers worldwide may be closer to reality than the industry expected.

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SOURCE DEEPX

• Secures KRW 18 Billion Project for Next-Generation AI NPU, Solidifying Leadership in High-Performance ASIC Market
• Underscores AI Semiconductor Design Competitiveness with Consecutive 4nm AI Chip Contracts

SEOUL, South Korea, March 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMIFIVE, a leading global provider of custom AI semiconductor (ASIC) solutions, announced today that it has signed a turnkey design contract worth KRW 18 billion (approximately USD 12.5 million) with an AI semiconductor fabless company. This contract marks a follow-on project with the customer and covers the development of a high-performance AI NPU based on Samsung Foundry's advanced 4nm (SF4X) process technology. The project will further strengthen SEMIFIVE's leadership in the rapidly growing AI semiconductor market and expand the company's portfolio of high-performance AI chip design projects.

SEMIFIVE continues to strengthen its position in the AI semiconductor market with a strong track record in NPU design and mass production. This achievement follows a series of major projects, including ▲XCENA, a CXL-based 4nm (SF4X) project, and ▲HyperAccel, an LPU-based 4nm (SF4X) project optimized for Large Language Model (LLM) inference. These consecutive wins further validate SEMIFIVE's technical maturity and execution capabilities in the high-performance AI semiconductor sector.

The newly secured project aims to commercialize a next-generation AI NPU optimized for on-premise environments, where AI computations are performed locally without reliance on external networks. Designed for real-time processing of massive data, such as high-resolution Vision AI and LLM inference, the chip will feature advanced memory interfaces to structurally eliminate data bottlenecks. By maximizing Power, Performance, Area (PPA) efficiency, SEMIFIVE expects to deliver an unparalleled AI accelerator that combines high performance with low power consumption.

SEMIFIVE's competitive edge lies in its proprietary SoC design automation system and end-to-end engineering solutions that drastically improve ASIC development efficiency.

The company takes full responsibility for the entire development lifecycle, from chip specification, logical and physical design to packaging, software development, prototyping, and mass production. This allows customers to focus entirely on their core AI architecture and service competitiveness.

Notably, SEMIFIVE is currently managing large-die turnkey projects of over 800 mm² and has secured high-speed interface design capabilities essential for high-performance AI silicon. Combined with its experience in managing global semiconductor supply chains, SEMIFIVE provides greater reliability for the commercialization of complex AI ASICs.

"This contract once again proves that SEMIFIVE's accumulated technical references and custom design capabilities represent the strongest competitive advantage in the market," said Brandon Cho, CEO and co-founder of SEMIFIVE. "Through collaboration with customers possessing innovative AI architectures, we will maximize synergies in high-performance AI chip development and firmly seize leadership in the custom semiconductor market as an AI ASIC specialist."

Meanwhile, SEMIFIVE is accelerating its global expansion by broadening its customer base across the United States, China, Japan, India, and Europe, building on its domestic AI semiconductor design projects. As demand for high-performance AI ASICs continues to grow rapidly, the company aims to establish itself as a strategic partner in the global AI ecosystem and as a leading custom semiconductor design specialist.

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SOURCE SEMIFIVE