LG Electronics (066570) is accelerating its push into new businesses, lining up artificial intelligence partnerships with Apple, the world's largest mobile company, and GS E&C, one of South Korea's top-tier builders, following an earlier tie-up with Nvidia. Leveraging the strength of its core home appliance business, the company plans to jointly develop smart home products with Apple and key data center technology with GS E&C to tighten its grip on both markets.
LG Electronics held a product launch event with Apple in Manhattan, New York, on the 14th, unveiling seven home Internet of Things devices the two companies developed together. The lineup includes one indoor camera, two outdoor cameras, a doorbell, a door lock, a thermostat and a temperature sensor. The products will go on sale first in North America and the U.K. this year.
The launch comes just a week after reports that the two companies would jointly develop smart home devices that use AI and IoT to manage households more efficiently. LG Electronics manufactures and sells the products under its own brand, while Apple took part in product design and the development of core features.
The new devices work with LG Electronics' smart home platform, LG ThinQ, as well as Apple mobile devices including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. They can also be managed together through Home View, a dedicated smart home device with a 7-inch display that Apple unveiled the same day. The products apply vision AI to flag intruders or unusual activity immediately and to optimize indoor heating and cooling by analyzing users' daily routines.
The alliance is expected to set up a full-scale contest with Samsung Electronics in the AI home market. Unlike Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics lacked a smartphone business and Apple lacked a home appliance business. By tapping Apple's installed base of 2.5 billion devices worldwide, LG Electronics can now broaden its smart home ecosystem. The company is also expanding the business with GS E&C, working to bring ThinQ and its home robot, LG CLOiD, into Xi apartment complexes.
LG Electronics also announced plans the same day to widen its cooperation with GS E&C. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. immersion cooling firm GRC on developing immersion cooling technology for data centers and related equipment technology, and have begun joint development. Immersion cooling submerges servers in a special cooling fluid rather than running air or liquid past them to carry away heat, cooling them more efficiently.
LG Electronics plans to develop the new immersion cooling technology by applying cooling expertise built up by its Eco Solution business unit, which has led the company's air conditioner business. Its offerings include high-efficiency chillers that produce large volumes of cold water, fan wall units that supply cool air steadily and discharge heat efficiently, coolant distribution units and cold plates that absorb heat directly from chips.
GS E&C is developing standardized architectural designs for data centers and will handle proof-of-concept testing covering the layout of immersion cooling equipment, structural loads, and piping and power connections. GRC will supply immersion tanks and control technology and focus on improving system performance based on data from equipment installation, operation and maintenance.
Last month, LG Electronics also agreed to jointly develop immersion cooling technology and next-generation refrigerants with SK Enmove, and since October last year it has been running field trials of immersion cooling technology with SK Enmove and GRC at operating sites.
LG Electronics' cooling equipment was certified last month as the only product in South Korea approved for use in Nvidia's DSX AI factory solution.