Unigen Extends Edge Portfolio Generation to AI Applications

Unigen Co., Ltd.was founded in 1991 and initially focused on developing memory and storage modules. Over time, the company has evolved to provide electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to a growing number of industrial customers. Unigen is expanding into new areas such as medical devices and defense/aerospace by leveraging its manufacturing facilities to produce OEM products.

This continued expansion led Unigen to enter edge artificial intelligence as more customers began deploying edge solutions. Given its established expertise in memory, storage, and high-reliability manufacturing, Unigen decided to incorporate edge AI accelerators into its products.

Unigen’s AI accelerator modules currently include Biscotti and Poptart. Biscotti is designed with an E1.S form factor, while Poptart comes in an E3.S form factor. These devices allow you to integrate the company’s AI accelerators into standard server drive bays or edge devices.

“We know that our customers want to be confident that the AI solutions they deploy today will continue to meet their needs for years to come,” said Paul W. Heng, Founder and CEO of Unigen. “That’s why we always include plug-and-play and hot-swap capabilities. These features reduce the risk of system downtime and are easily upgradeable, allowing our customers to scale quickly.”

Unigen specifically designed these AI modules to support a wide range of deployments, from compact edge gateways to edge AI servers to full racks for on-premises AI in data centers. The design approach emphasizes ease of integration and extensibility.

Both Biscotti and Poptart come with the Hailo-8 deep learning processor. of Biscotti E1.S This module integrates two Hailo-8 AI accelerators into a small 9.5 mm thick card and a PCIe switch to interface them with the host system. The bigger the Pop Art E3.S Modules are designed for higher density and performance. The Poptart module also includes two Hailo-8 processors (52 TOPS AI performance) with more board real estate and thermal headroom.

Unigen plans for edge AI products

Looking to the future, Unigen is expanding its edge AI portfolio with new products across visual AI and generative AI domains. “In terms of growth opportunities for visual AI, we see opportunities in video management systems (VMS), security, healthcare, and agriculture industries,” says Heng.

Furthermore, in the healthcare field, medical image processing Diagnostics and patient monitoring at the edge could benefit from visual AI accelerators that provide real-time AI insights to hospitals and remote clinics. In agriculture, edge AI modules can monitor crops, automate harvesting systems, Livestock monitoringWhile operating on-site, often in environments with limited bandwidth or connectivity.

In parallel, upcoming generative AI products aim to bring AI content generation and large-scale language model (LLM) capabilities to customer premises. These will focus on enabling small businesses and educational institutions that often have AI assistant and content generation use cases.

“The new solution serves a new application space by enabling customers to add AI to their facilities without changing the facility’s existing architecture. This is achieved because our inference solution follows:” Open Computing Project (OCP) It’s by design,” says Heng.

By complying with the OCP standard, Unigen ensures interoperability. For example, Unigen’s OCP-compliant edge AI servers or modules can work with other OCP-compliant racks, chassis, and management frameworks out of the box.

“We always prioritize performance per watt and performance per dollar,” Heng adds. “This allows us to strike the right balance between efficiency and value for our customers.”

Expansion of manufacturing capacity

To support its AI ambitions, Unigen has been upgrading its manufacturing footprint across the U.S. and internationally. With the push to move high-tech manufacturing onshore in the United States, Unigen has increased its domestic production capacity. The company added more production lines (including an efficient U-shaped assembly line for increased throughput) and invested in surface mount and automated test equipment to meet customer demand.

“We have also focused on obtaining certifications relevant to our customers, such as AS9100D (aerospace and defense), ISO 13485 (medical devices), and IATF 16949 (automotive). This ensures that we meet the most stringent manufacturing standards required to serve these end markets,” explains Mr. Heng.

Unigen also expanded We expanded into Southeast Asia by opening a new manufacturing base in Malaysia. The move was in response to customer feedback and a strategy to increase geographic diversification. The Malaysian facility is a state-of-the-art factory with advanced manufacturing lines and automation.

By establishing a presence in Malaysia, Unigen has strengthened business continuity, alleviated regional disruption and optimized logistics. An additional strategic advantage of this location is its proximity to Coraza Systems, a sheet metal fabrication and tooling company within Unigen Global Corporation. “Colaza is only 30 minutes away from our new facility in Malaysia, allowing us to offer vertically integrated services in a co-located area,” Mr Heng said.

UnigenOur two-pronged strategy of investing in both the OEM and EMS segments remains as valid as ever. AI modules and servers have experienced significant growth over the past few years, allowing us to expand our product line to address new application spaces in visual and generative AI.

“AI adoption is still in its early stages and the opportunities ahead are enormous,” concluded Heng.