Global tech giants are turning their attention to South Korea’s AI chip startups, with Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, considering the acquisition of FuriosaAI and Rebellions preparing for a domestic IPO, signaling a shifting landscape in the AI semiconductor market.
While discussions over FuriosaAI’s sale remain in the early stages, industry observers are closely watching how these developments will shape the competition with Nvidia.
FuriosaAI and Rebellions are considered S. Korea’s two leading AI chip startups. FuriosaAI is exploring a potential sale, while Rebellions is charting a different course by preparing for an initial public offering in the first half of next year. With their technology increasingly recognized by global firms and a shifting AI chip market creating new opportunities, both companies have seen their valuations rise significantly.
According to sources in the investment banking sector, Meta is conducting due diligence on FuriosaAI as it evaluates a possible acquisition. “The talks are still in the early stages, and Meta is continuing to evaluate FuriosaAI’s technology,” said an industry official.
While specific terms have yet to be set, analysts suggest the company’s valuation could be around 800 billion won (approximately $550.4 million), based on the price tag it received in last year’s Series C bridge funding round.
Meta has been developing its own AI chip, the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA), but its performance has reportedly fallen short of expectations. As a result, Meta still relies heavily on Nvidia’s GPUs, which dominate about 80% of the AI accelerator market.
In this context, FuriosaAI’s next-generation AI chip, RNGD (Renegade), is being viewed as a potential alternative to Nvidia’s products. When FuriosaAI introduced Renegade in Aug. 2024, it positioned the chip as an ideal choice for deploying high-end generative AI models, such as Meta’s Llama 2 and Llama 3.
Industry experts believe that S. Korean AI chip startups have already proven their competitiveness. Rebellions, for example, reportedly supplied its chips to Meta through a U.S. distributor in 2024.
“Global tech firms have tested Rebellions’ chips and found that they run faster and use less power than Nvidia’s GPUs,” an investment banking insider said.
“That’s why interest in S. Korean AI chipmakers has been growing. In addition to FuriosaAI, Rebellions has received multiple acquisition offers from global companies,” he added.
Moreover, as Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has demonstrated strong performance without relying on Nvidia’s expensive chips, global interest in S. Korean AI chipmakers has intensified. DeepSeek used Nvidia’s H800 chip for training but opted for Huawei’s Ascend 910C chip in the inference stage, a move that has drawn significant attention.
Both FuriosaAI and Rebellions are expected to benefit from this so-called “DeepSeek effect.” However, the two companies are taking different paths. Rebellions, having completed its merger with SK Group-backed AI chip startup SAPEON Korea late last year, has decided against selling its controlling stake. Instead, it plans to continue expanding through an IPO.
Rebellions is set to debut on the S. Korean stock market in the first half of next year. The company is also considering a future listing on an overseas exchange but is prioritizing its domestic IPO for now.
To that end, it plans to submit a preliminary application for listing approval in the second half of this year. Rebellions' revenue is expected to reach between $41.2 million–$68.8 million this year.
