LG Electronics acquires 80 percent of smart home company Athom, expanding AI

LG Electronics acquired 80 percent of Dutch smart home company Athom. [LG ELECTRONICS]

LG Electronics is acquiring Dutch smart home platform company Athom as it looks to more deeply integrate AI into its home appliances.

The Korean electronics company said Wednesday it has acquired 80 percent of the company, based in Enschede, the Netherlands, and will acquire the remaining 20 percent in the next three years.

The price of the acquisition wasn't disclosed.

"LG Electronics is evolving into an intelligent space solutions company by connecting and expanding experiences from spaces of our customers," said LG Electronics CEO William Cho.

"We will continue to make strategic investments to shift our business paradigm by advancing into platform business such as webOS advertisement platform and AI home platform."

Athom, founded in 2014, built and runs its own smart home ecosystem — a platform called Homey. It has a firm customer base centered in Europe and recently made forays into the United States, Canada and Australia. Its flagship Homey Pro is compatible with some 50,000 home appliances and devices.

"Through the acquisition of Athom, third-party devices and service can be integrated enabling us to secure more customer data and offer tailored services," LG Electronics said in a release.

The global smart home market is expected to grow at an average rate of 26.2 percent annually from 2023 to 2028, going from $81.2 billion to $260.2 billion, according to market tracker TechNavio.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]