Rebellions aims to raise about US$100 million from global investors to accelerate the development of a next-generation AI chip, banking on growing interest in the hardware needed to run artificial intelligence services.

The South Korean startup is discussing Series B financing that may value the company at more than US$500 million, people familiar with the talks said. The three-year-old firm has engaged with firms in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe, said the people, who asked to remain unidentified, revealing private negotiations. It is planning to close the round by the end of this year, they added.

Rebellions is one of several fledgling players trying to break into a rapidly growing market for semiconductors that can run AI software, competing against fellow startups from California-based Groq to Toronto’s Tenstorrent as well as global leaders such as Nvidia. A representative for Rebellions declined to comment.

Global capital is flowing toward firms from the US to China that are developing advanced AI services, a wave of activity galvanised by the advent of OpenAI’s seminal ChatGPT in November. The Korean startup aims to tap private capital as well as government backing to develop a chip that it has dubbed “Rebel”. 

South Korea has earmarked about US$615 million to back homegrown AI chip designers through 2030, seeking to build a foundation beyond the memory semiconductors that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix now dominate.

Rebellions and its peers design silicon that focuses on specialised tasks such as computer vision and chatbots, while Nvidia workhorses still do the heavy lifting in terms of training large language models. At home, it competes with FuriosaAI, backed by search leader Naver and the state-run Korea Development Bank. Sapeon, backed by SK Telecom and SK Hynix, is another Korean challenger.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Rebellions’s own backers include the country’s top wireless carrier KT, Korea Development Bank, internet conglomerate Kakao and Singapore’s Pavilion Capital. It is turning to Samsung to fabricate its chips, taking advantage of its 4-nanometer technology. BLOOMBERG