Chips&Media 第三季度業績增長，授權收入帶動

Chips&Media announces its third-quarter 2026 financial results. (Photo: Chips&Media)

Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) company Chips&Media posted growth across its third-quarter results, supported by new licensing contracts in artificial intelligence (AI) chips and robotics.

Chips&Media disclosed its third-quarter results on Oct. 27, reporting consolidated revenue of 7.162 billion won and operating profit of 1.657 billion won. The figures represented year-on-year increases of 8.2% and 8.7%, respectively.

Growth was driven by IP licensing revenue. The business provides designs for semiconductor functional blocks in exchange for licensing fees. Third-quarter licensing revenue rose 33% year on year to 4.431 billion won. The company secured its first licensing contract related to a domestic on-device AI semiconductor project. It also won a new automotive project from a major South Korean fabless chipmaker.

Chips&Media also secured new licensing agreements with Chinese customers for AI systems-on-chip (SoCs) and humanoid robots. It signed a new mobile licensing agreement with existing customer Google.

Royalty revenue, however, fell 26.5% year on year to 2.165 billion won. The decline reflected reduced chip production by customers amid memory supply shortages and rising prices. Royalties are fees Chips&Media receives when chips incorporating its IP are manufactured.

The company expects royalty revenue to return to growth in 2027, with domestic fabless AI SoC customers scheduled to begin mass production of chips for robots, home appliances and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Service revenue increased 66.8% to 565 million won. The company swung to a net loss of 605 million won, reflecting foreign exchange losses and valuation losses on financial assets.

Chips&Media said it plans to strengthen its position in the mobility market while expanding applications into edge AI fields, including robotics and drones. It will also address demand for next-generation video codec standards APV and AV2. The company plans to commercialize AI image signal processors (ISPs) and further enhance its neural processing unit (NPU) IP.

Chips&Media’s main products include video codec IP, NPU IP, AI image processing algorithms and memory optimization technologies. Its customers include Google, Telechips, Nextchip, Rebellions and Mobilint.