Summary:
Meta is in talks to acquire South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI.
FuriosaAI's RNGD chip offers three times better performance per watt than Nvidia’s H100 GPUs.
The acquisition could enhance Meta's custom chip development amid ongoing shortages.
FuriosaAI recently raised 2 billion won from CRIT Ventures.
The RNGD chip is expected to enter mass production in the second half of the year.
Meta is reportedly in discussions to acquire FuriosaAI, a South Korean AI chip startup founded in 2017 by June Paik, a former engineer at Samsung Electronics and AMD. This acquisition could significantly enhance Meta's efforts in developing custom chips amid the ongoing Nvidia chip shortage and increasing demand for alternatives.
The deal may finalize as soon as this month. While a FuriosaAI spokesperson declined to comment on the speculation, Meta has not yet responded to inquiries regarding this potential acquisition.
FuriosaAI recently secured 2 billion won (approximately $1.4 million) in funding from CRIT Ventures, bringing its total venture funding to about 170 billion won (around $115 million). Early investors include prominent players like Naver and DSC Investment.
The startup unveiled its innovative RNGD chip in August, developed in collaboration with Global Unichip Corp. This chip is designed to operate at a thermal design power (TDP) of just 150 watts, making it suitable for large-scale deployment of advanced generative AI models like Llama 2 and Llama 3, which are publicly available from Meta.
FuriosaAI claims that the RNGD chip offers three times better performance per watt compared to Nvidia’s H100 GPUs. This chip is dedicated to AI inference and utilizes HBM3 chips from SK Hynix, crucial for AI computing.
The RNGD chip is expected to enter mass production in the latter half of the year, with notable interest from LG’s AI research lab and Saudi Arabian Oil Co.. In September, Saudi Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding with FuriosaAI and Cerebras Systems to explore collaboration in the supercomputing and AI domains.
FuriosaAI's financial results show a significant increase in revenue, rising more than 10 times to 3.6 billion won in 2023, while losses narrowed to 63.7 billion won.
This acquisition news arrives as Meta, along with other tech giants like Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, is developing its own custom chips. The competitive landscape is heating up, especially after Rebellions, a domestic rival of FuriosaAI, completed a merger to become South Korea's first AI chip unicorn.
Other noteworthy startups in South Korea's semiconductor sector include Trillion Labs and Linq, which focus on AI and equity research enhancements, respectively.
Comments