On Thursday, LG Electronics Inc. commenced a two-day developer conference in Seoul with the goal of fostering the exchange of technological trends and knowledge among its software engineers. The event, held at LG Science Park in the western part of the city, welcomed more than 1,000 developers from both within the country and abroad to discuss six topics: artificial intelligence/big data, mobility/automotive, platform/architecture, software technology/development culture, cloud, and emerging technology.
The keynote speech was delivered by Bae Kyung-hoon, director of the LG AI Research Institute, who spoke about the company’s ultra-large multimodal AI solution, EXAONE 2.0, which was unveiled in July. He was followed by James Gosling, a distinguished engineer at Amazon Web Services and the creator and lead designer of the Java programming language, who shared details of his “extensive career in software development,” according to LG.
LG workers walk inside LG Science Park in western Seoul, in this July 7, 2023, file photo. (Yonhap)
The annual event, which first began in 2016, comes as the South Korean consumer electronics giant is transitioning to become a “smart life solutions provider” beyond the role of a traditional appliance manufacturer. This shift is due to the increasing importance of customer services, digitalization, and the electrification of home gadgets and automobiles.
In July, LG declared its intention to prioritize non-hardware products, such as the smart home business; webOS, LG’s own smart TV operating system; and business-to-business solutions, including electric vehicle (EV) parts business, as well as new growth areas like health care and robots. The company also plans to raise the proportion of the three sectors — non-hardware products, B2B solutions, and new growth areas — to 50 percent of its business portfolio by 2030 and invest more than 50 trillion won (US$37.6 billion) to reach that goal, including 25 trillion won in research and development and 17 trillion won in infrastructure.
In recent years, LG has made strides to diversify its business portfolio and take decisive action to remain competitive in the ever-changing tech environment.
jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
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