LG Electronics recently acquired an 80 percent stake in Athom, a leading smart home platform company. The agreement provides for the acquisition of the remaining (20 percent) shares over the next three years.
This strategic move is aimed at expanding LG’s connectivity capabilities in open smart home ecosystems. By combining Athom’s capabilities with LG’s Affectionate Intelligence technology, the company aims to become a leader in the era of AI-driven home innovation.
LG plans to integrate Athom’s extensive connectivity, which connects thousands of appliances, sensors, and lighting devices, with the LG ThinQ platform, which supports generative artificial intelligence. This initiative aims to create an AI home that provides optimal spatial solutions through a deeper understanding of customer needs. In it, users will interact with generative artificial intelligence that controls household appliances and IoT devices to create a personalized environment according to their preferences.
LG aims to bring the differentiated customer experience of AI-enabled homes to other spaces where users spend their time (including commercial spaces and public places), realizing and promoting the concept of “smart space”.
Athom is a technology company, manufacturer and seller of Homey, a smart home hub that connects home appliances and IoT devices and offers cloud-based subscription services. Founded in 2014, Homey has expanded primarily in Europe over the past decade, gaining a loyal customer base of hundreds of thousands of users. As of 2023, Homey devices are available in Australia, Singapore, the United States, and Canada, in addition to Europe.
Athom has developed its own hub and operating system to create an independent smart home ecosystem. Its flagship product, Homey Pro, can connect to more than 50,000 devices and supports a variety of connection methods, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter and Thread, making it very versatile and affordable.
According to TechNavio, a research company, the global smart home market is forecast to grow from USD 81.2 billion in 2023 to USD 260.24 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 26.23 percent.
“LG is evolving into a smart space solutions company that integrates and empowers various living spaces. We will continue to make strategic investments to change our business paradigm, as evidenced by our consistent launches of platform-based home appliances and solutions, such as the webOS platform and artificial intelligence for the home,” said William Cho, CEO of LG Electronics.
