LG Uplus is partnering with FuriosaAI, a fabless company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor design, to develop an enterprise “Sovereign AI Appliance” with enhanced security features. The strategy is to build independent AI systems without relying on external cloud services, thereby gaining an early foothold in security-sensitive markets such as the public and healthcare sectors.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on AI infrastructure cooperation on 4 March (local time) at the ‘Mobile World Congress 2026 (MWC26)’ exhibition. The jointly developed appliance will be an all-in-one device that combines software and hardware, functioning as a standalone AI infrastructure that processes data only within a company’s internal servers. It will be equipped with the LG Uplus enterprise AI platform, LG AI Research’s large-scale AI ‘EXAONE 4.0’, and FuriosaAI’s second-generation AI semiconductor (NPU) ‘Renegade’.

The global AI inference market is increasingly dominated by big tech companies that maintain a closed, monopolistic structure by bundling cloud services, AI models, and chips. This collaboration is significant in that it aims to build an independent inference ecosystem by combining a domestically developed AI model with customized AI semiconductors. It is cited as an optimal alternative for security-sensitive industries such as the public sector, defense, finance, and healthcare, where access to external networks is restricted, and the use of FuriosaAI chips, which significantly reduce power consumption compared with conventional graphics processing units (GPUs), is expected to help alleviate power shortages and cut costs.

“(For the AI ecosystem to expand) strong infrastructure must be secured from the AI model stage,” said Baek Jun-ho, CEO of FuriosaAI. “This collaboration is a blueprint for how Korea can expand its AI ecosystem.” Lee Sang-yeop, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of LG Uplus, said, “We will prepare a hybrid AI infrastructure that offers not only performance but also security and operational stability.”

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