LG Electronics and Microsoft agreed to expand their strategic partnership in artificial intelligence on 22 September, following a top management meeting at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters on 21 September local time between LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, Yonhap reported.
Key points
- LG will explore supplying high-capacity cooling solutions — chillers, coolant distribution units and air conditioning systems — for Microsoft’s key strategic data center locations in the near term.
- Medium-to-long-term cooperation extends to prefabricated data centres combining LG Electronics’ HVAC technology, LG Energy Solution’s energy storage systems and LG CNS’s design, construction and operations capabilities.
- LG will deploy Microsoft 365 E7 Frontier Suite including Copilot to office workers worldwide, aiming to become an “AI-native” enterprise by redesigning security, costs and operating systems around AI.
- Physical AI collaboration will use Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure to develop and train AI models for manufacturing, logistics and mobility, building a “Data Flywheel” where factory floor data continuously trains models redeployed to the field.
- Separately on 22 September, LG Electronics’ 2.5MW-class coolant distribution unit and LG Energy Solution’s battery energy storage system received Nvidia DSX Ready certification for AI factory infrastructure.
AI data centre infrastructure supply
The first area the two companies will pursue commercially is AI data centres. As Microsoft expands its AI data centre footprint globally, LG will explore opportunities to supply cooling, power and IT infrastructure solutions. For Microsoft’s key strategic data centre locations, the companies will examine whether LG can provide large-scale cooling systems, Seoul Economic Daily reported. Chillers, coolant distribution units and air conditioning systems are among the products LG Electronics already manufactures for managing temperatures in data centres.
Looking further ahead, prefabricated data centres — where major equipment is built off-site and then put together at the destination — are expected to become part of the cooperation. This approach shortens construction timelines compared with conventional methods and allows rapid capacity expansion — a key advantage given the surging need for AI compute infrastructure. LG plans to combine LG Electronics’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology with LG Energy Solution’s energy storage systems and LG CNS’s data centre design, construction and operations capabilities to deliver integrated solutions spanning cooling, power and IT infrastructure.
Enterprise AI transformation and Copilot rollout
LG’s internal work processes will be overhauled based on Microsoft’s AI and cloud technologies. The company plans to deploy the “Microsoft 365 E7 Frontier Suite,” which includes the generative AI service Copilot, to office workers worldwide. Routine tasks including document creation, information retrieval and data analysis are among the areas where AI will be applied to lift productivity, while security, cost and operational efficiency will be addressed together as part of the redesigned work environment, Asia Business Daily reported. LG’s goal extends beyond distributing AI tools — the company intends to fundamentally redefine how employees work with AI and transform into an “AI-native” enterprise.
Physical AI and the Data Flywheel
Manufacturing, logistics and mobility are the industrial settings where the two companies are deepening their collaboration in physical AI. To speed up development and training of AI models that function in these physical environments, LG will make use of Microsoft’s high-performance cloud infrastructure. A “Data Flywheel” structure will be established: data from manufacturing floors will be gathered continuously and fed into model training, with the refined models then sent back to the field for redeployment. More field data leads to better model performance, which raises productivity and generates richer operational data in turn — a cycle the two sides aim to create.
Nvidia DSX Ready certification
Separate from the Microsoft partnership, LG Electronics and LG Energy Solution joined Nvidia’s “DSX Ready” programme on 22 September. Nvidia has added LG Electronics’ high-capacity coolant distribution units and LG Energy Solution’s battery energy storage systems to its DSX Ready product range. The chipmaker’s DSX AI Factory platform, which seeks to knit together the full lifecycle of next-generation AI factories from design to construction to operation, counts LG as a key partner. LG Electronics previously received Nvidia format certifications for its 600kW and 1MW-class CDUs.
Working-level and executive discussions between LG and Microsoft had been continuing for several months after a technology event at Microsoft’s headquarters in December, Seoul Economic Daily reported.
