South Korean AI semiconductor startup Rebellions announced on Dec. 2 that it has completed its merger with SAPEON, the AI chip subsidiary of SK Telecom, six months after first unveiling the plan in June. The combined company will operate under the Rebellions name.
Valued at approximately 1.3 trillion won ($1 billion) based on the merger ratio, the new entity positions itself as a unicorn in South Korea’s AI semiconductor sector. Park Sung-hyun, who has been leading Rebellions, will take the helm as the sole CEO.
Park, a seasoned expert in AI and system semiconductors, holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His professional background includes roles at Intel, SpaceX, and Morgan Stanley.
The newly merged Rebellions plans to expand its business by partnering with strategic investors such as SK Telecom and SK Hynix. It aims to establish a foothold in global markets, focusing on the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. The company will work closely with SK Telecom to drive its global expansion into the AI data center market.
Technologically, Rebellions will leverage chiplet technology from its next-generation AI chip, REBEL, to address growing AI demand. It also plans to bolster its presence within the PyTorch open-source machine learning ecosystem, streamlining the development and deployment of AI services.
“NVIDIA’s dominance is reshaping the global AI semiconductor landscape,” Park said. “In this environment, merging Korea’s two leading neural processing unit companies is a pivotal moment for the nation’s AI semiconductor industry. I am committed to leading this endeavor with a sense of national responsibility.”
Over the next three months, Rebellions will focus on post-merger integration to unify its organizational structure and ensure a smooth transition.
