South Korean AI Chipmakers Merge, Aim to Challenge Nvidia

South Korean artificial-intelligence chipmaking startup Rebellions has signed an agreement to merge with Sapeon Korea, an AI chip company established by SK Telecom.

The two privately-held chip firms said on Sunday they had agreed to merge this year, following talks that began in June.

The deal is the latest attempt by South Korean companies to challenge global AI chip leaders such as Nvidia, Reuters said.

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Sapeon’s shareholders include South Korea’s largest telecom company SK Telecom and the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker SK Hynix.

Rebellions – an AI chip startup founded in 2020 – received a $15 million investment from Wa’ed Ventures, a venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, in July. Rebellions said this brought its total funding to more than $225 million.

The group, which has launched two AI chips within three years, began mass production of its AI chip ATOM this year and plans to launch ‘REBEL’, a next-generation AI chip, by the end of the year, according to a report by Technode Global.

The new company will retain the name ‘Rebellions’ and will be headed by Rebellions’ CEO Park Sung-hyun, it said, adding that SK Telecom, SK Square and SK Hynix would sell 3% of their Sapeon shares prior to the merger and that SKT would be a strategic investor, while the other two firms would also support the company’s expansion and enhance “South Korea’s leadership in AI chip technology.”

Sapeon – an AI chip firm spun off from SK Telecom’s R&D unit eight years ago – has worked on AI chips for data centres since 2020 and launched the X330 late last year.

“Our goal now is to emerge as a leading force in the worldwide AI chip market, navigating the intense industry competition,” Rebellion’s Park Sung-hyun was quoted as saying.