Samsung's latest acquisition will help prepare 5G for self-driving cars
The purchase will help it transition from 4G to 5G.
Samsung has announced that it's acquiring a Barcelona-based startup called Zhilabs, and it's meant to help the corporation prepare for its 5G offerings. Zhilabs is known for its artificial intelligence-powered service, which analyzes networks in order to provide companies details about their quality and any issues they might have. The results from Zhilabs' analyses could help Samsung figure out how to design its upcoming 5G products, such as connected cars and various Internet-of-things/automated devices, based on the quality of the networks carriers can provide.
Plus, it can help Samsung fine-tune customer experiences for the next-gen network. It could provide the info the Korean corporation needs to conjure up solutions for issues caused by 5G, for instance, which fixes meant for 3G or LTE can't address.
Youngky Kim, President and Head of Samsung's Networks Business, explained:
"5G will enable unprecedented services attributed to the generation of exponential data traffic, for which automated and intelligent network analytics tools are vital. The acquisition of Zhilabs will help Samsung meet these demands to assure each subscriber receives the best possible service."
While the Korean company didn't reveal how much money changed hands, it did say that the acquisition is part of its commitment to invest 25 trillion Korean won (US$22 billion) in AI and 5G over the next three years. It's preparing for a future filled with automated, internet-connected everything -- just recently, it even launched chips for connected vehicles. That's why aside from this acquisition, Samsung is also working to beef up its automation solutions and to explore other business opportunities "powered by the emerging technologies."
