SK Hynix have formed a subsidiary focused on industrial artificial intelligence (AI), the company announced.
Called Gauss Labs, the company was formed last month at Silicon Valley. It will open an office in South Korea this month.
SK Hynix plans to invest US$55 million into the new company by 2022.
Gauss Labs will aim to use AI to innovate semiconductor production, SK Hynix said. The company will use the massive amount of data created at chip production sites run by SK and use it develop AI solutions that will increase production efficiency.
Gauss Labs will make process management, yield rate estimates, equipment repairs, material measurement, defect analysis and prevention and other semiconductor production processes more intelligent, SK Hynix said.
The new company will secure other SK Group affiliates in energy and biomedicine as clients as well as global companies in the future, SK Hynix said.
SK Group affiliates have all individually been working to find new business opportunities in AI. Group chairman Chey Tae-won has stressed the importance of AI and digital transformation to create new values last year in August.
Kim Young-han, a tenured professor at the University of California, San Diego and a fellow of IEEE will serve as CEO of Gauss Labs, SK Hynix said.
Gauss Labs will secure around 20 AI experts this year, Kim said in a statement. The company will aim to have 200 employees by 2025, he added.
