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TSMC’s design house partner Asicland has won AI chip startup DeepX as its customer. 

DeepX had previously used Samsung Foundry’s design house Gaonchips as its production partner. But the startup recently signed a deal with Asicland to use TSMC’s advanced node to manufacture its SoC that has a neural processing unit (NPU), sources said.

The deal was worth approximately 10 billion won. Under the deal, DeepX will design an NPU specialized for large language model (LLM) and send it to Asicland, which will add interface IP and other requirements to make it a SoC suitable to be manufactured using TSMC’s node. DeepX is aiming see an engineering sample made at TSMC’s factory next year.

Asicland CEO Jongmin Lee didn’t deny the that the deal happened but didn’t elaborate further, saying the it signed a confidentiality agreement. The chip is expected to be made using TSMC’s 3-nanometer (nm) node.

Meanwhile, DeepX plans to maintain its relationship with Samsung while using TSMC for its latest contract chip production.

DeepX currently has M1 chip, specialized for vision, as well as AI accelerator H1 for data centers, as well as V series of NPU SoCs aimed at IP cameras and drones, as part of its portfolio.

M1 and H1 is being manufactured through Samsung Foundry’s 5nm node and V series through 28nm. These products are expected to go through a single-run, where small volumes of these products are made before mass production.

DeepX has already sent engineering sample of these chips made using Samsung Foundry to over a hundred customers, sources said.

The startup recently received funding from private equity Skylake Equity Partners, which is being led by ex-Samsung president and former Minister of Information and Communication Chin Dae-je. Skylake is its second-largest shareholder. BNW Investment, which has ex-Samsung Semiconductor president Kim Jae-wook as its CEO, also invested in the private equity.

Editor：Vicky

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