South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has reportedly declined an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta, choosing to continue its independent growth in the AI chip sector. According to local media, the deal fell through due to disagreements over business strategy and organizational structure rather than pricing concerns.
Meta has been working to lessen its reliance on Nvidia for AI chips, particularly for training large language models (LLMs). The company has already introduced its custom AI chips and announced plans to invest up to $65 billion this year in AI advancements.
FuriosaAI has not publicly commented on the matter, and Meta has yet to respond outside regular business hours. Meanwhile, the startup is seeking to raise approximately $48 million (KRW 70 billion) and aims to close the funding round by the end of this month.
Founded in 2017 by June Paik, a former Samsung Electronics and AMD engineer, FuriosaAI has developed two AI chips—Warboy and Renegade (RNGD). The latter is designed for reasoning models and has been tested in collaboration with LG AI Research and Aramco. Reports indicate that LG AI Research intends to incorporate RNGD chips into its AI infrastructure, with a commercial launch expected later this year.
As FuriosaAI continues its expansion, its decision to remain independent highlights its ambition to compete with industry leaders like Nvidia and AMD in the rapidly evolving AI chip market.
