Rebellions Secures $124M to Advance AI Chip Development with Samsung
South Korean fabless AI chip startup, Rebellions, announced today the closure of a $124 million (165 billion KRW) Series B funding round aimed at propelling the development of its third AI chip, named Rebel. Additionally, the startup intends to utilize the fresh capital, which surpassed its initial target of $90 million, to scale up production of its data center-focused chip, Atom, and for bolstering its workforce.
Funding Details and Valuation
Rebellions’ Series B funding round, oversubscribed with an initial target of $90 million, has propelled the three-year-old startup to a post-money valuation of approximately $658 million (880 billion KRW), as revealed by Rebellions’ CFO Sungkyue Shin in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. With this latest infusion, Rebellions has amassed around $210 million in total funding since its inception in 2020.
Leading the Series B round is KT, the South Korean telecom giant, participating as a strategic investor. Previous investors, including Temasek’s Pavilion Capital and Korea Development Bank, along with new backers like Korelya Capital and DG Daiwa Ventures, also contributed to the funding round.
Context in the AI Chip Industry
The timing of Rebellions’ fundraising is crucial amidst ongoing developments in the AI chip sector. Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market, leveraging a robust ecosystem of hardware and software. However, challenges persist in data processing and associated costs, fostering a pursuit for innovative breakthroughs in AI chip technology.
Collaborative Efforts with Samsung
Last October, Rebellions announced a partnership with Samsung Electronics to develop its latest Rebel chip, following previous collaborations related to its Atom chips. Rebel aims to leverage Samsung Electronics’ 4-nanometer fabrication process, integrated with HBM3E advanced memory chip technology. Targeting the generative AI market for large language models (LLMs) and hyperscalers, Rebel is slated for mass production in 2025.
Product Portfolio and Future Outlook
Rebellions’ Atom chip, designed for data centers and language models of up to 7 billion parameters, has been deployed by strategic investor KT in its cloud-based neural processing units (NPU) infrastructure. Revenue generation from Atom is anticipated in the latter half of this year, with production facilitated by Samsung’s 5-nanometer fabrication process.
The startup’s inaugural AI chip, Ion, tailored for edge computing applications, is currently undergoing qualification testing in the U.S. Ion’s potential applications in financial services, particularly for stock prediction and trading, are being explored.
Founded in 2020 by CEO Sunghyun Park, a former quant developer at Morgan Stanley, Rebellions is poised to make significant strides in the AI chip landscape with its collaborative approach and innovative product lineup.
