Samsung Electronics Co. has set up a research lab dedicated to designing an entirely new type of semiconductor needed for artificial general intelligence, a long-standing aspiration in AI development.

The lab will initially focus on developing chips for large language models with a focus on inference — the hosting and supporting of AI models. It aims to release new “chip designs, an iterative model that will provide stronger performance and support for increasingly larger models at a fraction of the power and cost,” Kyung Kye-Hyun, who heads the company’s semiconductor business, wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

The move comes as Silicon Valley heavyweights from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Meta Platforms Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg debate the future trajectory of AI. Many have taken to discussing the potential and dangers of artificial general intelligence, essentially AI that behaves, learns, and evolves like humans do, or even outperforms them.

Both Altman and Zuckerberg visited Seoul in recent months to discuss cooperation in AI with Samsung and other Korean firms.

Samsung is trying to catch SK Hynix Inc. in the business of providing chips for AI, after its smaller competitor got a headstart in a new type of advanced memory semiconductor tailored for use with Nvidia Corp. chips.

Dong Hyuk Woo, a former senior software engineer with Google, will oversee Samsung’s AGI Computing Lab in the US and South Korea, wrote Kyung, who is also Samsung Electronics’ co-chief executive officer. The announcement coincided with the much-anticipated release of Nvidia’s Blackwell chip on Monday.