The world’s largest IT trade show, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2026), opened on 6 January local time and will run until the 9th. This year’s CES is being held under the theme “Innovators Show Up,” with more than 4,300 companies from 160 countries participating. As the proportion of Chinese firms not attending has increased this year due to visa issues and other factors, the overall number of participants has declined significantly compared with last year’s figure of more than 4,800 companies.

According to the Korea Information & Communication Technology Industry Association, 853 Korean companies are taking part this year, a slight decrease from the previous year, ranking third in scale after the United States and China. Compared with last year’s 1,031 Korean participants, which included 390 general companies and 641 startups, this year’s participation consists of 395 general companies and 458 startups, representing a decline of about 17% in the proportion of startups.


However, the number of general companies participating in CES for US market expansion, investment and base broadening has been maintained, and participation is particularly strong among companies aligned with key themes such as AI and robotics, digital health, mobility and smart home, making the event highly active. Of the 284 companies that received Innovation Awards, 168 are Korean, and all three Best of Innovation Awards in the AI category went to Korean companies. The following highlights leading Korean innovative startups that are standing out at CES 2026.

DEEPX presents vision as a physical AI infrastructure company

DEEPX has set up an independent booth in the AI & Robotics section (#8945) of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where it is showcasing its next-generation 2-nanometer-based chip DX-M2 and a full range of products related to physical AI infrastructure. This is DEEPX’s third participation at CES, and for the second consecutive year it has been selected as a “What Not to Miss” company, drawing global attention to AI semiconductors. At the event, CEO Kim Nok-won is presenting a blueprint to use CES 2026 as a springboard for DEEPX to become a core physical AI infrastructure company and is introducing the company’s technologies and products to AI semiconductor stakeholders worldwide.


Earlier, DEEPX’s US partner Sixfab won a CES 2026 Best of Innovation Award with its ALPON X5, which is equipped with DEEPX’s first-generation chip DX-M1, demonstrating the market potential of DEEPX semiconductors. ALPON X5 is an industrial edge AI computer that combines a gateway function and is built on a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 equipped with DEEPX’s DX-M1 neural processing unit (NPU).

DEEPX is also presenting details of its “Open-Source Physical AI Alliance” in collaboration with Baidu’s PaddlePaddle and Ultralytics’ YOLO ecosystem in the United States, showcasing a global strategy that spans both hardware and software.

PANESSIA unveils PCIe 6.4/CXL 3.2 fabric switch


PANESSIA has a booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall #8475, where it is exhibiting the PCIe 6.4/CXL 3.2 fabric switch silicon and samples it unveiled in November. The switch supports both PCIe Gen 6 and CXL 3.2 (Compute Express Link) protocols on a single chip and is backward compatible with previous generations. PCIe 6.0 is a standard interface that directly connects PC components and devices and supports transfer speeds of up to 128 GB per second over 16 lanes. CXL 3.2 is a standard for connecting CPUs, memory and accelerators and is regarded as a key to resolving memory constraints in AI devices.

The switch can be used for a wide range of AI workloads, from large language model construction and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to large-scale AI operating environments such as data centers. Functionally, it offers PBR (Person-Based Routing) mode, which forwards incoming data directly, and HBR (Hierarchical-Based Routing) mode, which routes data according to systematic hierarchies in large-scale operating environments. As PANESSIA is the first in the world to implement PBR in hardware while supporting PCIe 6.4 and CXL 3.2, its booth is attracting attention from AI and infrastructure experts attending CES 2026.

MOBILINT introduces ‘MLX-A1 Edge AI Box’ for on-device AI


AI semiconductor technology company MOBILINT has set up a booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall #9129, where it is displaying its flagship ARIES and REGULUS semiconductor form factors as well as the standalone edge AI PC “MLX-1.” MLX-A1 is an industrial AI PC based on MOBILINT’s ARIES neural processing unit (NPU), which delivers 80 TOPS (80 trillion operations per second). With notebook-class power consumption of 70W, it can perform various AI tasks offline, including vision AI, speech recognition, sensor data processing and large language model execution. MLX-A1 was selected by US IT media outlet CRN as one of the “Top 10 Products to Watch.”

Dnotitia unveils ‘Mnemos’ solution for AI search bottlenecks


Long-term memory AI and semiconductor integration solution company Dnotitia is exhibiting at the CES 2026 K-Startup booth (#62817-12) in Eureka Park. Dnotitia’s showcased solution is “Mnemos,” a personal AI solution designed to resolve data retrieval bottlenecks, which are regarded as a key cause of performance degradation in generative AI and AI agent expansion. Mnemos can run high-performance language models directly on devices without server or cloud connections, offering advantages in both cost savings and data security.

Dnotitia is also presenting a broad range of solutions, including Seahorse Cloud, its proprietary foundation model DNA, on-device AI offerings and vector databases. Dnotitia CEO Jung Moo-kyung said, “Mnemos is a small device that provides LLM-based AI agent services using local data,” adding, “The current version is GPU-based, but in the future we plan to combine LLM-specialized NPUs (neural processing units) from VDPU (Vector Database Processing Unit) partners to create smaller and more powerful AI agent devices.”

Rablup unveils ‘Backend.AI:GO’ to run LLMs on personal computers

AI infrastructure platform company Rablup is participating in CES for the fourth consecutive year and has a booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall #9529. Rablup is showcasing “Backend.AI:GO,” a desktop application that runs SLMs (small language models) directly on personal PCs without cloud servers. Using this program, users can download models directly and run LLMs without an internet connection.


Users can carry out tasks such as in-house document analysis, image recognition and generation, and code review directly on their personal PCs without security concerns, and they can adjust parameters and resource allocation to change model response characteristics and resource usage. Backend.AI:GO can also be integrated with existing Backend.AI environments and cloud AIs such as GPT and Gemini to pool local PC resources. In addition, Rablup is unveiling Backend.AI:DOL, which allows users to load and use open-source models via a web browser.

Rablup CEO Shin Jung-kyu said, “As the AI PC era begins in earnest, demand for running LLMs in on-device environments is increasing. By using Backend.AI:GO and DOL, it is now possible to operate AI infrastructure consistently from personal PCs to large-scale GPU clusters,” adding, “Rablup has been expanding its presence in the global AI infrastructure market through four consecutive years of participation in CES and will present a new standard for operations with full-stack AI infrastructure solutions that span on-device and cloud environments.”

ENERZAi showcases 1.58-bit quantization and full-stack on-device AI


AI quantization technology company ENERZAi is exhibiting high-performance on-device AI solutions running on Arm-based SoCs (systems on chip) at booth #62817 in Eureka Park. Demonstrations include T5-mini and OpenAI’s Whisper models, both quantized to 1.58 bits and running on a Raspberry Pi based on an Arm Cortex-A76 CPU, as well as a case using an Arm Cortex-A73 CPU and Synaptics NPU-based device that supports real-time captioning and translation with 1.58-bit quantization.

Applying ENERZAi’s quantization technology to AI models enables AI execution with minimal loss of performance even with limited compute and memory. This not only improves AI operating efficiency but also allows higher performance to be achieved on the same hardware.

BOS Semiconductors unveils AI BOX demo for next-generation mobility


Automotive and physical AI semiconductor specialist BOS Semiconductors is presenting an “AI BOX” integrating its high-performance AI accelerator EAGLE-N. Using this product, automakers can independently implement high-performance AI functions while minimizing changes to existing systems. The built-in hardware processes sensitive data such as voice and video locally without sending it to servers, enhancing in-vehicle privacy and data security. It also ensures AI operations regardless of network connectivity, improving overall reliability.

BOS Semiconductors has implemented a variety of interfaces to ensure flexible integration with existing vehicle systems, enabling the rapid adoption of advanced AI functions not only in new models but also in facelifted vehicles. The AI BOX handles core AI functions, allowing existing systems to focus on their original roles. BOS Semiconductors Vice President Chae Jung-seok said, “The AI BOX demo presents a practical way to introduce AI functions into existing mobility systems. BOS Semiconductors aims to grow beyond automotive semiconductors to become a key semiconductor company leading the era of physical AI.”

Select Star participates under ‘Datumo’ brand, introduces end-to-end AI support services


Select Star has a booth at Eureka Park #61515, where it is introducing its global brand “Datumo.” This is Select Star’s second appearance at CES, and it is presenting services that support the entire AI development and adoption lifecycle, including: ▲ “Datumo Eval,” Korea’s first AI reliability evaluation solution ▲ “Dataset Store,” a high-quality data platform free from copyright issues ▲ “AI Data Solution,” based on proprietary data construction technology.

Through this exhibition, Select Star plans to introduce Datumo Eval’s differentiated evaluation technology to global companies and explore collaboration opportunities on reliability verification with partners in North America and other regions. Select Star CEO Kim Se-yeob said, “At CES 2026, we are showcasing Select Star’s data technology capabilities and AI reliability evaluation cases centered on the financial sector,” adding, “As an all-in-one service covering the full AI development lifecycle, we will help companies devise safe and trustworthy AI adoption strategies.”

Nation A wins Best of Innovation with ‘Neuroid Playmaker’


Nation A has received CES Innovation Awards for three consecutive years and this year won a total of three awards, including a Best of Innovation Award for “Neuroid Playmaker.” Neuroid Playmaker, which won the Best of Innovation Award in the Content & Entertainment category, is an AI platform that converts text, voice and video prompts into 3D motion.

In addition, “Neuroid Motion,” a 3D motion content creation platform for smartphones and tablets, and “Neuroid Motionspace,” an AI-based motion intelligence platform designed specifically for mixed reality (XR) and spatial computing, each received Innovation Awards in the Mobile Devices & Accessories and Apps categories. By combining these solutions, Nation A enables text, voice and video prompts to be converted into real-time 3D motion data that can interact in mixed reality environments such as AR and VR.

‘Crosshub’ wins Best of Innovation Award for global identity verification and payment solution


Crosshub has a booth at #50332 in Eureka Park and won the Best of Innovation Award in the Fintech category for “IDBLOCK,” an identity verification and payment system that works across borders. Traditional personal authentication procedures, which compare information with a central server, are difficult to use across borders, making it hard to use domestic payment services overseas. IDBLOCK uses zero-knowledge proof methods to securely authenticate personal information, enabling identity verification regardless of borders, and supports payment through B·Pay.

With B·Pay, users can make payments directly overseas using electronic wallets trusted in their home country, even without local SIM cards or bank accounts. Companies can provide overseas access to the same financial services used domestically simply by using IDBLOCK and B·Pay, without expensive hardware or complex integration.

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