Qualcomm and Line team up for Clova AI platform
Internet of Things (IoT) devices made by Korean search giant Naver will be powered by Qualcomm's system-on-a-chip (SoC) going forward, under a strategic partnership in artificial intelligence announced by the companies.
In addition, Clova, an AI platform co-developed by Naver and its chat app subsidiary Line, will be expanded to smartphones by Qualcomm at a later date, the companies said.
Line is planning on launching a voice-recognition speaker branded Wave -- which will be powered by the company's voice-activated digital assistant Clova -- later this year, and is thereafter aiming to launch Champ, a portable voice-activated speaker from Line's chat app, which is expected to take an emoticon-like form.
Wave is currently powered by Qualcomm's APQ8009 quad-core 1.3GHz Snapdragon 212 platform.
Qualcomm has been increasingly focused on IoT, last month unveiling its Mesh Networking Platform, based on the IPQ40x8/9 network SoC, which is designed to control and improve the use of IoT devices in the home.
The Mesh platform includes the Qualcomm IoT Connectivity feature suite -- designed for the simultaneous use of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, CSRmesh, and 802.15.4-based technologies -- its Wi-Fi Self-Organizing (SON) feature suite, and cloud-based diagnostics and analytics.
Qualcomm last week also announced a new line of products including an audio SoC platform, a smart audio platform, and an amplifier chipset for headphones and speakers.
Its smart audio platform is optimised for processing within AI-based speakers that use APQ8009 and APQ8017 chips.
It will power speakers launched in the third quarter of the year, the company said.