Samsung-backed AI chip firm Rebellions raises $400 million ahead of IPO
Rebel-Quad is the second generation product from Rebellions and consists of four Rebel AI chips. Rebellions, a South Korean company, wants to rival companies like Nvidia in artificial intelligence chips.
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South Korean AI chip startup Rebellions said Monday it has raised $400 million as it plans to expand into the U.S. market before going public.
Mirae Asset Financial Group and the Korea National Growth Fund, an investment vehicle of the South Korean government, led the round, valuing Rebellions at $2.34 billion.
Rebellions is one of many semiconductor startups looking to capitalize on demand for AI chips and investor appetite for companies fueling the build-out of infrastructure for the technology.
Rebellions CEO Sunghyun Park tells CNBC the money will be used to expand into the US
Park said, “Our main target right now is large laboratories,” and named the following companies: Meta and as target customers rather than hyperscalers like xAI Amazon And Microsoft.
Park added that Rebellions is currently doing some active proof-of-concept trials with customers in the US.
The CEO also said the company is preparing for an initial public offering, as CNBC previously reported, but declined to provide any details on the timeline or listing location.
AI inference focus
Rather than training AI applications, Rebellions’ chips focus on inference—the process of running them. During NvidiaGraphics processing units (GPUs) have been the gold standard for training AI models; There is increasing focus on chips that can run inference processes quickly and also be more energy efficient.
Rebellions sells server systems consisting of Rebel100 NPU chips.
The South Korean startup competes not only with Nvidia but also with a growing list of other startups, from Cerebras to Groq, a company from which Nvidia licenses technology.
“When it comes to pure inference, our chip offers much higher energy efficiency and performance at the same time,” Park said when discussing Rebellions’ differentiation from competitors.
Park declined to provide sales figures but said the company has a “strong revenue pipeline.” However, he noted that one of the challenges currently faced is securing the supply of memory chips.
Such semiconductors are manufactured by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micronis in high demand but also in short supply, leading to an unprecedented rise in component prices.
Park said, “Memory is not easy to obtain. However, our demand is very high.” He added that with Samsung and SK Hynix, two of the world’s largest memory manufacturers, being investors, Rebellions is “best positioned” to source memory compared to other startups.
South Korea’s chip bet
The riots are a central part of the South Korean government’s attempt to strengthen the country’s domestic semiconductor industry.
Last year, the government launched the “K-Nvidia” initiative, a plan designed to invest government funds in companies designing advanced artificial intelligence chips.
The Korean National Growth Fund, one of Rebellions’ investors in the latest funding round, contributed 250 billion Korean won ($166 million), the government announced Friday.
Samsung, SK Hynix and Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco are among Rebellions’ investors.
