TL;DR:
- Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip startup, has successfully closed a Series B funding round, raising $124 million.
- The funding will be used to develop their third-generation AI chip, named “Rebel,” and boost production of their data center-focused chip, “Atom.”
- Rebellions’ post-money valuation now stands at approximately $658 million.
- KT, a South Korean telecom giant, led the funding round, with support from previous and new investors.
- Rebellions are entering a competitive AI chip market with established players like Nvidia and Big Tech companies developing their own chips.
- The company has a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics to develop Rebel, targeting generative AI applications.
Main AI News:
In a significant milestone for the South Korean fabless AI chip startup, Rebellions, the company has successfully closed a Series B funding round, securing an impressive $124 million (165 billion KRW). The primary objective of this substantial financial boost is to fuel the development of their third-generation AI chip, aptly named “Rebel.” Additionally, the company plans to allocate the newfound capital, which exceeded its initial target of $90 million, towards the accelerated production of its data center-centric chip, Atom, and expanding its workforce.
This Series B funding round signifies a pivotal moment for the three-year-old startup, catapulting its post-money valuation to approximately $658 million (880 billion KRW), as revealed by Rebellions’ CFO, Sungkyue Shin, in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. With this infusion of capital, Rebellions’ total funding tally has reached an impressive $210 million since its inception in 2020.
Leading this latest funding endeavor is KT, the South Korean telecommunications giant, stepping in as a strategic investor. Previous supporters, including Temasek’s Pavilion Capital and Korea Development Bank, have reaffirmed their commitment, joined by new investors such as Korelya Capital and DG Daiwa Ventures.
The timing of Rebellions’ fundraising efforts is opportune, aligning with the ongoing developments and competition in the AI chip industry. While Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, other players are vigorously pursuing innovative breakthroughs to address challenges related to data processing and the high costs associated with AI applications.
Notably, major tech giants like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are actively developing their AI chips to integrate into their products and services. Additionally, Open AI, led by CEO Sam Altman, is reportedly in talks to secure billions of dollars for establishing chip fabrication factories to produce its own AI chips. Amidst this landscape, Rebellions and Samsung Electronics have joined forces to develop the next-generation AI chip, Rebel, targeting the generative AI market, particularly large language models (LLMs) and hyperscalers.
Shin disclosed that Rebel will harness Samsung Electronics’ cutting-edge 4-nanometer fabrication process, while also benefiting from Samsung’s advanced memory chip technology, HBM3E, designed to handle high bandwidth memory essential for operating large language models. What sets Rebellions apart is its claim of superior versatility compared to customized AI chips, enabling support for a wide range of generative AI models that require AI accelerators.
Crucially, Rebellions emphasizes its commitment to a comprehensive partnership with Samsung, spanning co-development, chip design, and mass production of Rebel. Samsung, in turn, has its own vested interest, as South Korea’s leading memory chip manufacturer, in advancing its generative AI model, Samsung Gauss.
In addition to Rebel, Rebellions’ existing chip offerings include Atom and Ion. Atom, tailored for data centers and language models of up to 7 billion parameters, is already making strides with strategic investor KT deploying it in its cloud-based neural processing units (NPU) infrastructure. The company anticipates generating revenues from Atom in the latter half of the year and will continue production using Samsung’s 5-nanometer fabrication process. Meanwhile, Ion, Rebellions’ inaugural AI chip launched in November 2021, is currently undergoing qualification testing in the U.S., with potential applications in the financial services sector, particularly for stock prediction and trading applications.
Rebellions, founded in 2020 by CEO Sunghyun Park, a former quant developer at Morgan Stanley in New York, stands poised to redefine the AI chip landscape with its innovative solutions and strategic collaborations, notably with Samsung Electronics.
Conclusion:
Rebellions’ successful funding round and strategic collaboration with Samsung highlight the company’s commitment to innovating in the competitive AI chip market. With financial backing and technological partnerships in place, Rebellions is well-positioned to make a significant impact in the evolving AI chip landscape, challenging established leaders like Nvidia and participating in the ongoing race for AI hardware superiority.
