Chips&Media and Mobilint take video codec IP into physical AI robot chips

South Korean video IP firm Chips&Media announced on November 4 that it is expanding into the physical AI and robotics market through a partnership with Mobilint, an edge AI semiconductor company, with mass production of Mobilint's next-generation chips powered by Chips&Media's video codec IP. (Photo is a stock image of a computer chip, not the product described.)

From licensing to mass production

The two companies have a long licensing history: Mobilint licensed H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC and AV1 codecs years ago and recently added AV2 and H.266/VVC. The new partnership extends beyond video codecs to the full multimedia spectrum, including frame buffer and data compression IP, alongside mass production of Mobilint's next-generation chips.

Why robots: 8K, 60fps and functional safety

Physical AI and robotics demand high throughput, low latency and safety. Chips&Media's VPU delivers 8K at 60fps multi-stream encoding on a single core and carries ISO 26262 ASIL-B functional safety certification, which the company says was decisive. Mobilint's flagship AI semiconductor, Regulus, was previously flown on South Korea's Naro launch vehicle and validated in space.

Chips&Media CEO Sang-hyun Kim called the move from long-standing partnership to mass production a major achievement. The announcement did not disclose production volumes or customer names, so shipments and end products remain to be watched.