Which startups participating in CES 2026 in Korea have added innovation with AI?

- CES 2026features over 850 South Korean companies,with Korean firms winning 168 Innovation Awards and sweeping all three "Best of Innovation" honors in the AI category.
- Leading hardware innovators like DEEPX, Panmnesia, and Mobilintare establishing the groundwork for "Physical AI" through next-generation NPUs and CXL switches that enable high-performance AI operations directly on devices.
- Breakthrough platforms like NationA(3D motion AI) and CROSSHUB(borderless fintech) were recognized with top honors for redefining content creation and global payments, while firms like Lablupand Dnotitiaare solving critical data bottlenecks for the on-device AI era.


The Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2026), the world's largest IT exhibition, opened on January 6 and will run through January 9. This year’s CES is held under the theme Innovators Show Up, featuring approximately 4,300 companies from 160 countries. The total number of participating firms has decreased compared to last year's 4,800, largely due to a decline in Chinese participation caused by visa issues and other factors.

According to the Korea Information & Communication Technology Industry Association (KICTA), 853 South Korean companies are participating this year, a slight decrease from the previous year. South Korea maintains the third-largest presence at the event, following the United States and China. Compared to last year's 1,031 companies (390 established firms and 641 startups), this year features 395 established firms and 458 startups, representing a roughly 17% decrease in the proportion of startups.

CES 2026 will open on the 6th and run until the 9th. / source=CTA

However, the number of established firms remained steady as they focused on targeting the U.S. market, securing investment, and expanding their foundations. Participation is particularly high in core sectors such as AI, robotics, digital health, mobility, and smart home technology. Furthermore, out of 284 Innovation Award winners, 168 are South Korean companies, and all three Best of Innovation Awards in the AI category were swept by South Korean firms. This report highlights major domestic innovation startups making a significant impact at CES 2026.

‘DEEPX’ Presents Vision as a Physical AI Infrastructure Company

DEEPX has established an independent booth in the AI and Robotics zone (#8945) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, showcasing its full range of physical AI infrastructure products, including the 2-nanometer-based next-generation chip, DX-M2. Participating in CES for the third time, DEEPX has been selected as a What Not to Miss company for two consecutive years, garnering global attention in the AI semiconductor industry. At the event, CEO Lok-won Kim shared a blueprint for DEEPX to leap forward as a provider of essential infrastructure for physical AI and is currently introducing technologies and products to global AI semiconductor stakeholders.

DEEPX introduced open-source AI cooperation with 2nm chip 'DX-M2' / source=DEEPX

Earlier, DEEPX's U.S. partner, Sixfab, won the CES 2026 Best of Innovation Award for the ALPON X5, which features DEEPX's first-generation chip, the DX-M1, proving the market potential of DEEPX semiconductors. The ALPON X5 is an industrial edge AI computer that integrates a gateway function by mounting the DEEPX DX-M1 Neural Processing Unit (NPU) onto a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5.

Additionally, DEEPX is introducing its collaboration in the Open Source Physical AI Alliance with Baidu’s PaddlePaddle and the U.S.-based Ultralytics YOLO ecosystem, demonstrating a global strategy that encompasses both hardware and software.

‘Panmnesia’ Unveils PCIe 6.4/CXL 3.2 Fabric Switch

panmnesia finds CES 2026 With PCIe 6.4/CXL 3.2 Fabric Switch For Data Servers / source=panmnesia

Panmnesia has set up a booth at North Hall #8475 of the Las Vegas Convention Center to showcase silicon and samples of the PCIe 6.4/CXL 3.2 fabric switch it unveiled last November. This switch supports both PCIe Gen 6 and CXL 3.2 (Compute Express Link) protocols on a single chip and is backward compatible with previous generations. PCIe 6.0 is a standard for directly connecting PC components and devices, supporting transfer speeds of up to 128GB per second across 16 lanes. CXL 3.2 is a standard for connecting CPUs, memory, and accelerators, and is considered a key solution to the memory shortage in AI devices.

The switch can be utilized across various AI development environments, from building Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to large-scale AI operations like data centers. In terms of functionality, it supports Person-Based Routing (PBR) mode for immediate data transmission and Hierarchical-Based Routing (HBR) mode for organized data delivery in large-scale environments. As Panmnesia is the first in the world to implement PBR in hardware while supporting PCIe 6.4 and CXL 3.2, the booth is attracting significant interest from AI and infrastructure experts at CES 2026.

‘Mobilint’ Introduces MLX-A1 Edge AI Box for On-Device AI

Dong-joo Shin, CEO of mobilint (second from right) introduces mobilint Semiconductor to visitors / source=mobilint

Mobilint, an AI semiconductor technology company, established a booth at North Hall #9129 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The company is exhibiting its flagship ARIES and REGULUS form factors alongside the MLX-1, a standalone edge AI PC. The MLX-A1 is an industrial AI PC based on Mobilint’s 80 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) NPU, ARIES. With a power consumption of 70W, similar to a laptop, it performs various AI tasks such as vision AI, voice recognition, sensor data processing, and LLM operations in offline environments. The MLX-A1 was also selected as one of the 10 noteworthy products by the U.S. computer media outlet CRN.

‘Dnotitia’ Unveils Mnemos Solution to Solve AI Search Bottlenecks

CES 2026 Dnotitia Booth in Eureka Park / source=Dnotitia

Dnotitia, a company specializing in long-term memory AI and integrated semiconductor solutions, is located at the CES 2026 K-Startup booth (#62817-12) in Eureka Park. The company is showcasing Mnemos, a personal AI solution designed to solve the data search bottleneck, which is considered a major cause of performance degradation in the proliferation of generative AI and AI agents. Mnemos allows high-performance language models to run directly on devices without a server or cloud connection, offering advantages in cost reduction and data security.

Furthermore, Dnotitia is presenting its overall solution suite, including Seahorse Cloud, its proprietary foundation model DNA, on-device AI, and vector databases. CEO Moo-Kyoung Chung stated, Mnemos is a small device that provides LLM-based AI agent services using local data. While the current version is GPU-based, we plan to combine it with LLM-specialized NPUs from VDPU (Vector Database Processing Unit) partners to create smaller and more powerful AI agent devices.

‘Lablup’ Unveils Backend.AI:GO for Running LLMs on Personal Computers

AI infrastructure platform company Lablup is participating in CES for the fourth consecutive year, with a booth located at North Hall #9529 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The company is introducing Backend.AI:GO, a desktop application that runs Small Language Models (SLMs) directly on personal PCs without a cloud server. Using this program, users can download models and run LLMs without an internet connection.

Lablup Introduced LLM-powered solution 'backend'AI:GO' and 'Backend'.AI:DOL' Introduced to U.S. Market / source=Lablup

Users can perform tasks such as internal document analysis, image recognition and generation, and code review on their personal PCs without security concerns. They can also adjust model response characteristics and resource usage by modifying parameters or resource allocations. Backend.AI:GO can integrate local PC resources by linking with existing Backend.AI environments and cloud AIs like GPT and Gemini. Additionally, the company unveiled Backend.AI:DOL, which allows users to load and use open-source models through a web browser.

CEO Jeong-Kyu Shin noted, As the AI PC era begins, demand for running LLMs in on-device environments is increasing. With Backend.AI:GO and DOL, AI infrastructure can be operated consistently from personal PCs to large-scale GPU clusters. Having expanded our presence in the global AI infrastructure market through four years of participation at CES, Lablup will set a new standard for operations with full-stack AI infrastructure solutions spanning on-device and cloud.

‘ENERZAi’ Showcases 1.58-bit Quantization and Full-Stack On-Device AI

Han-him Chang, CEO of ENERZAi (second from left), introduces ENERZAi's quantization technology to visitors / source=ENERZAi

AI quantization technology company ENERZAi is showcasing high-performance on-device AI solutions running on Arm-based SoCs (System-on-Chip) at booth #62817 in Eureka Park. Demos include T5-mini and OpenAI’s Whisper models processed with 1.58-bit quantization running on a Raspberry Pi based on the Arm Cortex-A76 CPU. Another demonstration features real-time captioning and translation using 1.58-bit quantization on a device based on the Arm Cortex-A73 CPU and Synaptics NPU.

Applying ENERZAi’s quantization technology to AI models allows them to run without significant loss even with low computational power and memory. This not only improves AI operation efficiency but also enables higher performance on the same hardware.

‘Bos Semiconductors’ Unveils AI BOX Demo for Next-Generation Mobility

Bos semiconductors introduced AI BOX for AI application in commercial vehicles. / source=Bos semiconductors

Bos Semiconductors, specializing in automotive and physical AI semiconductors, is presenting the AI BOX, which integrates the high-performance AI accelerator Eagle-N. This product allows automakers to perform high-performance AI functions independently while minimizing changes to existing systems. The built-in hardware processes sensitive data such as voice and video locally without sending it to a server, enhancing in-vehicle privacy and data security. It also ensures AI functionality regardless of network connectivity, improving overall reliability.

Bos Semiconductors has built various interfaces to integrate flexibly with existing vehicle systems, allowing advanced AI functions to be introduced immediately to new cars as well as vehicle facelifts. The system can be configured so the AI BOX handles core AI functions while the original system performs its intended roles. Vice President Jason Chae stated, The AI Box demo suggests a practical way to introduce AI functions even in existing mobility systems. Bos Semiconductors aims to grow beyond automotive chips to become a core semiconductor company leading the era of physical AI.

‘SelectStar’ Introduces Full-Cycle AI Support Services under Datumo Brand

Selectstar set up booth at CES 2026 under global brand 'Datumo' / source=Selectstar

SelectStar is introducing its global brand Datumo at booth #61515 in Eureka Park. This marks SelectStar’s second participation in CES, where it is showcasing services supporting the entire cycle of AI development and adoption: Datumo Eval, Korea’s first AI reliability evaluation solution; Dataset Store, a high-quality data platform free from copyright issues; and AI Data Solutions based on proprietary data construction technology.

Through this exhibition, SelectStar plans to introduce the differentiated evaluation technology of Datumo Eval to global companies and seek collaboration with North American and global partners regarding reliability verification. CEO Se-yeob Kim stated, We are showcasing SelectStar’s data technology and cases of AI reliability evaluation adoption, particularly in the financial sector, at CES 2026. As an all-in-one service covering the entire AI development cycle, we will support companies in establishing safe and reliable AI adoption strategies.

‘NationA’ Wins Best of Innovation Award for Neuroid Playmaker

NationA won CES 2026 Best Innovation Award for Content and Entertainment as New Lloyd Playmaker / source=NationA

NationA has won CES Innovation Awards for three consecutive years, and this year it received a total of three awards, including the Best of Innovation Award for Neuroid Playmaker. Selected as a Best of Innovation winner in the Content & Entertainment category, Neuroid Playmaker is an AI platform that converts text, voice, and video prompts into 3D motion.

Additionally, Neuroid Motion, a 3D motion content creation platform for smartphones and tablets, won an Innovation Award in the Mobile Device Accessories & Apps category. Neuroid Motionspace, an AI-based motion intelligence platform specifically designed for Mixed Reality (XR) and spatial computing, also received an Innovation Award. NationA combines these solutions to convert text, voice, or video prompts into real-time 3D motion data, enabling interaction in mixed reality environments such as AR and VR.

‘CROSSHUB’ Wins Best of Innovation for Global Identity and Payment Solution

CROSSHUB won CES 2026 FinTech Top Innovation Award For 'IDBlock' And 'B-Pay' / source=CROSSHUB

CROSSHUB is located at booth #50332 in Eureka Park and won the Best of Innovation Award in the Fintech category for IDBLOCK, a cross-border identity verification and payment system. Traditional personal authentication processes rely on matching information with central servers, making them difficult to use across borders and hindering the use of home-country payment services abroad. IDBLOCK uses Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) to securely authenticate personal information regardless of borders and facilitates payments through B-Pay.

With B-Pay, users can make direct payments abroad using a trusted e-wallet from their home country without needing a local SIM card or bank account. Businesses can utilize home-country financial servicesabroad by using IDBLOCK and B-Pay, eliminating the need for expensive hardware or complex integration.

‘Deep Fusion AI’ Brings New Wind to Radar Industry with 4D Imaging Radar

Deep fusion AI won CES 2026 Best Innovation Award for RAPA / source=Deep fusion AI

Deep Fusion AI is an AI startup developing radar technology for automotive and technical support sectors. The company’s entry, RAPA (Real-time Attention-based Pillar Architecture), uses multiple 4D imaging radars to build a 360-degree real-time environmental perception foundation. This allows for LiDAR-level environmental perception at a much lower cost, further enhancing the accuracy and completeness of autonomous driving technology.

RAPA accurately distinguishes between static and dynamic objects and achieved 40% higher accuracy than competitors in public benchmarks. This technology is expected to receive significant attention in industries that rely on radar for environmental perception, including autonomous vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and robotics.

By Si-hyeon Nam (sh@itdonga.com)