LG Electronics Co., Ltd.LG) acquired 80% of the shares In Home A leading smart home platform company from Enschede, Netherlands The deal also includes plans to acquire the remaining 20% stake over the next three years. This strategic investment aims to strengthen LG’s open smart home ecosystem by: Combining Athom capabilities with LG’s advanced compassionate intelligence technology. Becoming a leader in the era of AI-powered smart home innovation.
LG is committed to bringing technology from the Athom network system that connects appliances. Sensors and thousands of different types of electrical appliances integrated with the LG ThinQ platform powered by generative AI to create an AI home that can deeply understand customers’ needs. And provide the best options for living space that best meet users’ needs. Within LG’s AI Home system, users can access generative AI that controls various electrical appliances and Internet of Things (IoT) devices within the home to create an atmosphere that truly reflects the user’s personality and needs.
LG is committed to expanding the customer experience of AI-powered homes to other areas. Places where customers regularly spend time, such as commercial areas and commuter areas, will enhance and develop the concept of “smart space” or smart space to be stronger.
Athom is a leading technology company that has developed a smart home device “Homey” that can efficiently communicate with home appliances and IoT devices. Homey’s specialized cloud subscription service has been rapidly gaining popularity in Europe since 2014 and will reach hundreds of thousands of global customers by 2023. Homey devices are available in several countries including Australia, Singapore, the United States, Canada and Europe.
In Home It has developed a hub and operating system (OS) to create an independent smart home ecosystem. Homey Pro can connect to more than 50,000 devices and supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread and more open connectivity.
The Homey App Store supports the connection and control of more than 1,000 home appliances, such as Philips Hue and IKEA. These applications are developed in collaboration with official partners to facilitate their use. In addition to the group of developers who participate in creating applications, the Homey App Store also plays an important role in the development and improvement of the Athom system, allowing Homey to support the connection of various devices and brands. comprehensively and with high efficiency
LG is poised to fully expand its smart home services with highly efficient AI systems. It combines technology from the LG ThinQ platform with Athom’s IoT connectivity. The acquisition of Athom is a significant step forward. It not only allows LG to integrate equipment and services from other service providers into their system but can also help you better understand and respond to your customers’ needs with additional insights that are powerfully available.
“Collaborating with Athom is a cornerstone of LG’s AI smart home business,” said Jeong Ki-hyun, executive vice president and head of LG’s Platform Business Center. “It helps increase efficiency so we can expand the open system and support full-efficiency communication with external devices. This will help create a premium customer experience.”
Following the merger with LG, Athom will continue to operate independently. It will maintain its operating structure and brand. The strategy focuses on fully supporting Athom's growth potential and strengths, strengthening cooperation between the two companies in business and R&D, as well as leveraging shared platforms. To create more modern and smart home innovations.
The partnership reinforces LG’s commitment to transitioning from hardware to a leading integrated software platform company. In 2021, LG will expand its TV business from hardware to software. By launching the webOS smart TV platform, it has acquired Alphonso, a leading AI technology company from the United States. With expertise in TV media, machine learning and big data analytics, Alphonso is now operating under the name LG Ad Solutions, a core part of its content and services business on the webOS platform.
LG is committed to continuously building good relationships. By providing differentiated value to customers through AI-powered home services, and transforming the organization into a “Smart Life Solution Company”
According to market research firm TechNavio, the global smart home market is expected to grow rapidly from USD 81.2 billion in 2023 to USD 260.24 billion in 2028, at a CAGR of around 26.23%.
“LG is taking steps toward becoming a smart space solutions company that connects and expands experiences across diverse living spaces. We continue to focus on strategic investments to transform our business model. As evidenced by our continued penetration of platform-specific hardware services and solutions, such as our webOS advertising platform and AI-powered smart home,” said William Cho, CEO of LG Electronics.
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