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   South Korea's hottest AI hardware startup reportedly said no to $800m   
   acquisition by Meta   
      
   Date:   
   Sat, 05 Apr 2025 10:27:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Report says Meta made an $800 million bid for South Korean  startup FuriosaAI   
   - but was turned down.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   As demand for AI infrastructure continues to grow, hyperscalers like Meta,   
   Microsoft, and Google are actively working to reduce their reliance on    
   Nvidias pricey hardware by developing their own custom silicon. Meta has   
   reportedly begun testing its first in-house AI training chip , as part of a   
   broader push to gain more control over its AI stack.    
      
   In addition to its internal efforts, Meta has also been exploring    
   acquisitions of promising AI chipmakers to bolster its hardware capabilities.    
      
   One such target was Korean startup FuriosaAI , which the tech giant saw as a   
   strong candidate to help accelerate its AI infrastructure ambitions. Meta    
   made a buyout offer worth $800 million (approximately 1.2 trillion won) for   
   the company, but despite the offer coming in about 400 billion won (roughly   
   $300 million) above FuriosaAIs estimated market value, it was rebuffed.   
      
   A difference of opinion   
      
   According to Maeil Business Newspaper , negotiations broke down due to   
   conflicting visions about the companys future. FuriosaAIs leadership chose to   
   walk away from the deal and continue operating independently in the   
   increasingly competitive AI semiconductor space.    
      
   Since October of last year, Meta had been looking at several AI semiconductor   
   companies in the U.S. and Israel, and finally chose FuriosaAI as a strong   
   acquisition target and entered into negotiations at the beginning of the    
   year, an insider familiar with the company told Maeil Business Newspaper .    
      
   I understand that the negotiations broke down because the two sides could not   
   narrow their differences over the direction of the business and    
   organizational structure after the acquisition, rather than the price.    
      
   Founded in 2017 by CEO June Paik, FuriosaAI specializes in AI chip design and   
   currently employs around 140 people - over 90 percent of whom are developers,   
   including engineers from Google, Qualcomm, and Samsung.    
      
   The companys flagship product, RNGD (pronounced 'Renegade'), unveiled at Hot   
   Chips 2024, is a high-performance AI inference chip built on TSMCs 5nm    
   process and equipped with dual HBM3 memory.    
      
   According to FuriosaAI, it delivers twice the efficiency of traditional GPUs   
   while consuming only a quarter of the power, so its easy to see the appeal to   
   Meta.    
      
   Mass production of RNGD is expected to begin in the second half of 2025 and   
   Maeil Business Newspaper reports that a number of major organizations,   
   including LG AI Research and Saudi Aramco, have signed up to test the chips   
   performance.    
      
   FuriosaAI has raised around 70 billion won (approximately $52 million) in   
   funding to support its chip production and operational costs. (Image credit:   
   FuriosaAI )   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/south-koreas-hottest-ai-hardware-startup-reporte   
   dly-said-no-to-usd800m-acquisition-by-facebooks-meta   
      
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