[C Series] Kim Chang-su, CEO of AimFuture, "Expanding the Domain of AI Semiconductors"

[Financial News] "We plan to expand our domain to the field of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors following semiconductor intellectual property (IP)."
Kim Chang-su, CEO of AimFuture, stated on the 27th, "Currently, we are supplying neural processing units (NPU) in the form of IP to semiconductor companies," adding, "We will enter the AI semiconductor field, which is larger than the semiconductor IP market, to increase sales and push for a KOSDAQ market listing," he revealed.
AimFuture, founded by CEO Kim, is an R&D-focused company where all revenue comes solely from semiconductor IP fees. The two main sources of income are the license fees received when supplying IP to semiconductor companies and the royalties received when selling semiconductors made using this IP. So far, AimFuture has only generated license revenue.
CEO Kim has dedicated 36 years to the field of semiconductors. He began his career as a semiconductor researcher at Samsung Electronics. After moving to the United States, he worked at Samsung Electronics' Silicon Valley branch and later at global semiconductor companies such as Texas Instruments, Synopsys, and Cadence.
CEO Kim stated, "After working at Samsung Electronics and overseas semiconductor companies, I settled at LG Electronics' Silicon Valley America Research Center," adding, "I focused on developing application processors (AP) that serve as the brain in smartphones while there."
Particularly, he began developing NPUs at LG Electronics' Silicon Valley America Research Center in 2015. NPU is a core IP technology used in AI semiconductors.
CEO Kim said, "The year after we started developing NPUs, interest in AI surged as Lee Sedol 9-dan played a Go match against AlphaGo," adding, "The AI semiconductors applying the NPU IP developed at the Silicon Valley America Research Center were actively applied to LG Electronics' home appliances."
To independently operate the semiconductor IP business, CEO Kim spun off the related business from LG Electronics in 2020 and established AimHigh. At that time, Kwak Jae-hwa, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Lee Jong-tae, Senior Vice President, who developed NPUs at LG Electronics, joined AimHigh.
Under CEO Kim's leadership, AimHigh has since licensed NPU IP to domestic semiconductor-related companies such as SemiFive, SuperGate, and PNPNet as the AI era unfolded. They are also set to sign a license agreement with Kuopin, which focuses on defense industry semiconductors.
He has also been preparing to enter the overseas market. In this regard, he has participated in major domestic and international exhibitions, including 'CES' held every January in Las Vegas, USA, by setting up booths.
CEO Kim stated, "The NPU IP clients, which were limited to domestic semiconductor companies, will expand to overseas markets starting this second half," adding, "We have already confirmed a license agreement with a leading Chinese semiconductor company."
CEO Kim plans to directly enter the AI semiconductor business in addition to semiconductor IP. To this end, he recently secured related sales rights from LG Electronics, which possesses AI semiconductor technology.
He explained, "We will first apply AI semiconductors to △Smart Home △Smart Building △Smart City, and then expand the scope to the robotics field," adding, "We will also add royalty income to the NPU IP business following license revenue and use this to enter the KOSDAQ market in the second half of 2027 through a technology special listing."

butter@fnnews.com Kang Kyung-rae, reporter