Qualcomm agrees on Chinese AI pacts

QUALCOMM Inc yesterday announced several AI cooperation agreements with Chinese partners including Baidu, NetEase and startup Thundercomm to enhance the market potential of the new technology in smartphones, intelligent home appliances and cars.

Qualcomm, the world’s biggest mobile chip designer, also announced a new product line (Snapdragon 710) specifically for artificial intelligence, and the establishment of a new AI research organization. The market value of AI will hit US$3.3 trillion by 2021, according to Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s president.

“AI will be essential to powering economic growth and industrial transformation,” Amon said.

Qualcomm’s penetration into the AI sector brings industrywide influence as its chip technologies are used in almost all smartphones.

It has also acquired NXP to expand business into the Internet of Things, which is stilling waiting for approval from Chinese regulators.

Qualcomm is the latest industry giant to announce AI investment in China, following Microsoft, Dell, Tencent and Baidu. China has defined AI as a national “strategic” technology and plans to develop a core AI market worth over 150 billion yuan (US$22.66 billion) by 2020, according to the State Council.

The corporation will cooperate with Baidu on the deep learning platform, in-device translation with NetEase, and an AI developer kit with Chongqing-based Thundercomm.