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Samsung Electronics disclosed its plan Thursday to acquire Viv Labs, a US artificial intelligence platform developer, as the world's largest smartphone maker seeks to find new growth engines in the world's competitive tech market.
San Jose-based Viv Labs develops an AI interface that enables to interact with devices, services, and other platforms for individuals. Without disclosing financial terms and other details, Samsung said the US company would be incorporated into its mobile devices and services.
Like other technology firms, Samsung has tried to focus on developing software and service due to growing competition and oversupply in the global market for gadgets.
Samsung's planned acquisition of an AI developer came after Google, one of the global leaders in AI, unveiled a new lineup of Pixel smartphones featuring voice-powered digital assistant and other new technologies.
In unveiling new products this week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI is what will set it apart from competitors. The shift to AI, he said, is as predictable as the history of computing, which undergoes a big revolution just about every decade.
Google's decision to become a full-fledged, vertically integrated device maker will pose new challenges for the other major players in the tech industry, said Walt Mossberg, an executive editor at The Verge and Editor at Large of Recode
"I believe that one reason Google is becoming a hardware maker is that it had become too dependent on Samsung to showcase and sell the full Google app-equipped version of its Android software," Mossberg said.
Now, Samsung will have to compete with its software supplier in the lucrative premium smartphone market, where Apple has been its only real rival, he said.
And this development couldn't have come at a worse time for Samsung, arriving on the heels of the huge recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone, Mossberg said, adding Google is giving Android fans what looks like "an excellent alternative".
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
