Meta in Advanced Talks to Acquire Korean AI Chip Startup FuriosaAI

FuriosaAI says its exploring all options in takeover talks with Meta

FuriosaAI says its exploring all options in takeover talks with Meta A screenshot from FuriosaAI's corporate website, Feb. 18. Yonhap FuriosaAI, a Korean artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup, said Tuesday that it is in discussions with U.S. tech giant Meta Platforms over a possible takeover, with all options still on the table. The company has made headlines following a recent U.S. report suggesting that Meta is considering acquiring the AI chip startup, with negotiations possibly concluding as early as this month. "It would be ideal to secure investment without having to sell (the company), but unfortunately, we haven't been able to raise funding at the scale we desire here in the country," said Jeong Young-beom, managing director at FuriosaAI, at an AI industry promotion roundtable held at the National Assembly. "Nothing has been decided yet. We are keeping all options open and will make the best choice," he added. Founded in 2017, FuriosaAI is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in AI inference chips for data centers. Its flagship product, the RNGD processor, launched last year, is a new AI inference chip designed for high-performance data centers and capable of efficiently handling large language models (LLMs). (Yonhap)

Meta in talks to acquire AI chip firm FuriosaAI, according to report | TechCrunch

Meta is reportedly in talks to acquire a South Korean chip firm as the social media giant looks to bolster its AI hardware infrastructure. Meta may announce its intent to purchase FuriosaAI, a chip startup founded by former Samsung and AMD employees, as soon as this month, per Forbes. FuriosaAI develops chips that speed up the running and serving of AI models, including text-generating models like Meta's Llama 2 and Llama 3. To date, FuriosaAI has raised 90 billion Korean won (around $61.94 million) from investors, including South Korean tech company Naver, according to Crunchbase. The company has previously said it is engaged with unnamed potential customers in the U.S., Japan, and India. Meta's move is likely an effort to reduce its reliance on dominant chipmaker Nvidia and a complement to Meta's in-house attempts to build efficient AI accelerator chips. Meta recently said that it expects to spend up to $65 billion this year to power its AI goals.

Report: Meta in talks to acquire AI chip firm FuriosaAI | TechCrunch

Meta is reportedly in talks to acquire a South Korean chip firm as the social media giant looks to bolster its AI hardware infrastructure. Meta may announce its intent to purchase FuriosaAI, a chip startup founded by former Samsung and AMD employees, as soon as this month, per Forbes. FuriosaAI develops chips that speed up the running and serving of AI models, including text-generating models like Meta's Llama 2 and Llama 3. To date, FuriosaAI has raised 90 billion Korean won (around $61.94 million) from investors including South Korean tech company Naver, according to Crunchbase. The company has previously said it is engaged with unnamed potential customers in the U.S., Japan, and India. Meta's move is likely an effort to reduce its reliance on dominant chipmaker Nvidia and a complement to Meta's in-house attempts to build efficient AI accelerator chips. Meta recently said that it expects to spend up to $65 billion this year to power its AI goals.

Meta in Talks to Acquire South Korean AI Chip Startup FuriosaAI

Meta is in talks to acquire FuriosaAI, a South Korean AI chip startup, to strengthen its custom chip efforts amid an NVIDIA GPU shortage. According to reports, the deal could be finalised this month, but other buyers are also in discussions. Founded in 2017, FuriosaAI developed RNGD, an AI chip optimised for Llama 2 and Llama 3. The chip is said to consume less power than NVIDIA's H100 GPUs. FuriosaAI has raised 170 billion won ($115 million) from investors, including Naver and DSC Investment. CEO June Paik, formerly of Samsung and AMD, holds an 18.4% stake. The talks come as South Korean rival Rebellions merged with SK Hynix-backed Sapeon, forming the country's first AI chip unicorn. South Korea is ramping up AI investments, positioning startups like FuriosaAI as key players. If Meta proceeds with the acquisition, it could reduce the reliance on NVIDIA's high-cost GPUs. Meanwhile, even OpenAI is building its custom chip. The company plans to finalise the design soon and send it to TSMC for production, with mass production expected in 2026. A team of 40 engineers, led by former Google employee Richard Ho, is developing the chip in partnership with Broadcom. The chip will be used for training AI models and improved over time. Tech giants Microsoft and Meta have faced challenges in producing AI chips. OpenAI's move aligns with industry efforts to reduce dependence on NVIDIA, which controls 80% of the AI chip market. Microsoft and Meta plan to invest $80 billion and $60 billion in AI infrastructure next year, respectively. The chip will use 3-nm technology with features similar to NVIDIA's, including fast memory and networking.

FuriosaAI gains attention over Meta's potential takeover

FuriosaAI's RNGD artificial intelligence accelerator / Courtesy of FuriosaAI By Nam Hyun-woo FuriosaAI, a Korean artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup, gained market attention on Wednesday following a report that U.S. tech giant Meta Platforms is in talks to acquire the company in a bid to lower its reliance on Nvidia's expensive AI processors. Citing unnamed sources, Forbes reported on Tuesday that Meta is in discussions to acquire FuriosaAI, and the talks could conclude as early as this month. FuriosaAI was unavailable for comment. FuriosaAI is a fabless company specializing in developing data center accelerators catered to AI inference. In August last year, the company revealed its next-generation accelerator RNGD chip, claiming that it offered advantages in terms of price and power efficiency compared to similar products from Nvidia. Forbes said the potential takeover could boost Meta's efforts for in-house chips amid a shortage of Nvidia accelerators and a growing demand for alternatives. Meta last year introduced its in-house AI chip, MTIA, but is still in the early stages of achieving independence from Nvidia. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that it will spend up to $65 billion in 2025 to secure data center infrastructure and plans to deploy 1.3 million graphics processing units (GPUs) by the end of this year, meaning the company still faces daunting demands for AI processors. Meta is assumed to be paying attention to FuriosaAI due to the RNGD chip's price and cost-efficiency. According to FuriosaAI, RNGD operates at a thermal design power of 150 watts, compared to up to 1,200 watts for cutting-edge GPUs. RNGD's price was not publicly available, but industry insiders assume it will cost $10,000 per unit, compared to $40,000 for Nvidia's H100. Following the Forbes report, the share prices of FuriosaAI's investors spiked in the Korean stock market. DSC Investment and TS Investment both hit the upper limit of 30 percent on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market on Wednesday.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Eyes Acquisition Of Korean AI Chip Startup Founded By Former Samsung And AMD Engineer Meta Eyes Acquisition Of Korean AI Chip Startup Founded By Former Samsung and AMD Engineer - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD)

Meta Platforms Inc. META is reportedly in negotiations to acquire FuriosaAI Inc., a Seoul-based AI chip startup. The acquisition deal is expected to be finalized as early as this month. What Happened: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is in discussions to acquire FuriosaAI, a South Korean AI chip startup founded by June Paik, a former Samsung SSNLFand Advanced Micro Devices AMD engineer, according to a Forbes report on Tuesday. FuriosaAI specializes in developing accelerators that optimize AI applications and has created its own AI chip, Warboy in 2021, after which it launched the advanced accelerator chip RNGD in August. "RNGD will be an ideal choice for the large-scale deployment of advanced generative AI models such as Meta's Llama 2 and Llama 3," stated FuriosaAI. CEO Paik has previously highlighted the need for an alternative semiconductor ecosystem, citing the high cost and limited supply of Nvidia's AI accelerators. FuriosaAI's models reportedly offer a more cost-effective solution, with system chip construction costs amounting to about half of Nvidia's. SEE ALSO: Sam Altman's OpenAI Set To Finalize In-House AI Chip, Reducing Dependence On Nvidia: Report Why It Matters: This move by the Zuckerberg-led company comes in the wake of aggressive AI initiatives that have been driving the company's growth. According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, Meta's AI-driven monetization strategy could potentially add an incremental $100 per share. The acquisition talks are also happening at a time when Meta Platforms is looking to challenge Nvidia Corp NVDA and lessen its strong dependence on the world's leading GPU manufacturer for AI chips. Last month, Meta revealed that its capital expenditures could reach up to $65 billion in 2025, with a substantial share dedicated to AI infrastructure investments. Conrad van Tienhoven, a portfolio manager at Riverpark Capital told Bloomberg, "I have long viewed Meta as the biggest beneficiary of AI outside of maybe Nvidia, and I think more people are coming around to that idea." Tienhoven elucidated that Meta's investment has reshaped its approach to ad targeting and measurement, leading to enhanced growth and increased average revenue per user. READ MORE: $100 Invested In NVIDIA 20 Years Ago Would Be Worth This Much Today Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. AMDAdvanced Micro Devices Inc$111.450.32%Overview Rating:Speculative37.5%Technicals Analysis660100Financials Analysis200100WatchlistOverviewMETAMeta Platforms Inc$718.20-0.22%NVDANVIDIA Corp$133.340.41%SSNLFSamsung Electronics Co Ltd$42.48-13.8%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs