(Oct 29): South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) chip start-up FuriosaAI quadrupled its valuation to US$2.9 billion (RM11.8 billion) in a fresh funding round, bolstering its bid to challenge the likes of Nvidia Corp.

The Seoul-based upstart said on Thursday it raised US$620 million in a Series D round from investors including US-based Infinitum Partners. South Korea’s National Growth Fund contributed US$280 million and international investors US$110 million, with Jericho Capital, Worldline Capital, Singapore’s QUDA Capital and Abu Dhabi-based NeoFort Holding among backers.

Investors are hunting for alternatives for Nvidia chips that dominate AI data centres, seeking more energy-efficient silicon. That shift centres on inference — generating outputs from trained AI models — which is emerging as one of the industry’s primary cost battlegrounds as rising demand boosts power needs.

Founded in 2017, FuriosaAI began mass production of RNGD — pronounced “renegade” — chips in January and is working with Broadcom Inc on a third-generation accelerator targeting large-scale AI infrastructure. The start-up is betting that its chip architecture, designed to minimise energy-intensive data movement, will help it gain ground in the Nvidia-led market. Its previous round last year valued the company at US$735 million.

FuriosaAI is engaged with a large number of customers in the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East, chief executive officer June Paik said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “We see strong demand and opportunities as we are scaling our business globally.”

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is producing 20,000 RNGD accelerators this year, with the South Korean start-up aiming to more than double output to over 40,000 units in 2027. Samsung SDS, LG Group and South Korean AI start-up Upstage are among those that are using the chips.

Existing backers Naver Corp, Korea Development Bank, DSC Investment, Nextrans and Kakao Investment also joined the financing round, while the Export-Import Bank of Korea made its first direct start-up investment in FuriosaAI.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee