SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On-device AI semiconductor company DEEPX (CEO Lokwon Kim) has announced that it has signed a 2nm process development agreement with Samsung Foundry and its design partner Gaonchips, for its next-generation generative AI chip, the DX-M2.
Under the contract, DEEPX becomes the first commercial customer of Samsung Foundry’s advanced 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process for the AI chip and will commence silicon fabrication for the DX-M2 processor, which is designed for ultra-low-power generative AI inference on devices. Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) prototype production is planned for the first half of 2026, with mass production targeted for 2027.
This project is expected to play a pivotal role in expanding South Korea’s high-value semiconductor industry and accelerating the development of a global 2nm AI semiconductor ecosystem.
While mass production is targeted for 2027, securing Samsung Foundry’s 2nm GAA process at this early stage was a strategic imperative for DEEPX. The company recognized that achieving true, practical on-device generative AI is nearly impossible with existing process nodes due to the immense computational demands and strict power limitations.
The superior power-to-performance ratio of the 2nm process—delivering approximately twice the power efficiency of the 5nm process used in DEEPX’s current DX-M1—is not just an improvement, but a fundamental requirement to overcome this technological barrier. This decision highlights DEEPX’s commitment to delivering a future-proof solution that will define the next era of AI, rather than settling for incremental gains.
DEEPX’s existing 5nm-based vision AI chip, the DX-M1, is in mass production for use in robotics, smart cameras, and factory automation, and is being adopted by customers around the world. The DX-M2 extends the company’s portfolio to generative and multimodal AI, forming the core of its strategy to lead the transition towards a hyper-intelligent, AI-driven society.
Today, generative AI is largely powered by expensive, energy-intensive data centers. The DX-M2 chip is designed to replace this traffic with an ultra-low-power, no-fee on-device AI solution that delivers tens of times higher power efficiency than data centers while significantly reducing carbon emissions.
The chip is capable of real-time inference up to 20 billion parameter models at a rate of 20 to 30 tokens per second (TPS), all while consuming 5 watts or less of power. This represents a monumental leap in power efficiency, especially when global competitors are currently running smaller 10-billion-parameter models at around 10 TPS with a power consumption of 10 to 20 watts. This allows expert-level generative AI models to run independently on devices such as robots, home appliances, and laptops, even in environments with tight power and thermal constraints.
DX-M2 is set to deliver the world’s first practical on-device solution capable of real-time processing of DeepSeek and LLaMA 4 Scout—20 billion-parameter models that achieve 100 billion-class near-AGI performance through a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture—as well as other advanced generative AI models in real time.
DEEPX began designing the DX-M2’s architecture in early 2024 and had a demonstration-ready prototype by early 2025. The company aims to set new benchmarks in computational performance, intelligence, and power efficiency for on-device AI.
“DX-M2 is the core platform that will usher in the mass adoption and industrialization of generative AI,” said Lokwon Kim, CEO of DEEPX. “By combining 2nm process efficiency with our AI architecture, we aim to eliminate the cost and energy barriers of today’s AI and create a world where anyone can benefit freely and sustainably from this technology.”
About DEEPX
DEEPX is a leading on-device AI semiconductor company headquartered in South Korea. Its product portfolio includes high-performance, low-power AI processors optimized for edge applications in robotics, smart cities, industrial automation, and consumer electronics. For more information, visit www.deepx.ai.
DEEPX PR team
Ella Lee
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2f3a65da-5977-474e-970c-f91986eaac2d