Samsung announced the acquisition of UK knowledge graph startup Oxford Semantic Technologies on Thursday, to boost its AI smarts and offer more personalized experiences and content on its devices.

Oxford Semantic Technologies (OST) specializes in the knowledge graphs – a database tech that stores and organizes data as an interconnected web of related ideas and entities, much like humans do, enabling rapid retrieval of information and recommendations. Its flagship product is called RDFox – billed as the world’s fastest knowledge graph and semantic reasoning engine.

“As such, it is considered one of the key technologies for realizing more sophisticated and personalized AI solutions,” Samsung enthused.

The Korean giant noted Oxford Semantic’s product “optimizes data processing and enables advanced reasoning” on devices and in the cloud, helping smartphones and other gadgets to become “increasingly familiar with users’ preferences and usage.”

That ability fits nicely with Samsung’s stated plans to bring better AI to its Bixby virtual assistant, which it last week revealed will soon be upgraded with its own AI models as part of a broader strategy.

Samsung asserted that Oxford Semantic’s products will be applicable across its range – and specifically named mobiles, televisions and home appliances.

Samsung has collaborated with the startup since 2018 – only a year after it was established as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, where its founding team had toiled on its tech since 2011. The Korean giant had also invested in the Oxford outfit.

According to Oxford Semantic CEO Peter Crocker, Samsung has been involved in the development of RDFox, which it describes on LinkedIn as underpinned by “patented modern computing techniques” that enable it to “deliver responses to complex queries on the fly.”

This deal is the second acquisition of a British tech outfit by a major Asia-based entity in the last week, after Japan’s SoftBank acquired struggling AI chip house Graphcore for an unspecified sum. ®