FuriosaAI, a South Korean chip startup, allegedly refused to accept an $800M acquisition bid from U.S. tech firm Meta following collapsed negotiations that started early this year. Instead of selling, the company has chosen to expand as an independent business.
Maeil Kyungjae Media Group confirmed that the $800M (nearly KRW 1.2T) M&A negotiations between artificial intelligence (AI) chip design startup FuriosaAI and global tech company Meta have finally broken down. The local media outlet noted that disagreements over post-acquisition business strategy and organizational structure, rather than price issues, caused the negotiations to cease.
According to Maeil Kyungjae (MK), Meta has shown interest in a select number of Asian firms, including FuriosaAI. The U.S. company is making significant investments in AI infrastructure to compete with major players like OpenAI and Google, as well as emerging firms such as China-based DeepSeek.
FuriosaAI declines Meta’s $800M bid
NEW: Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million takeover offer from Meta, according to a source https://t.co/OBhKh5tqhA 출처 @technology
— Yoolim Lee (@yoolimleenews) March 24, 2025
South Korean chip startup FuriosaAI has rejected an $800 million acquisition offer from U.S. tech giant Meta, opting for independent growth over acquisition by the tech giant. FuriosaAI’s CEO Baek Jun-ho, a former engineer at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., was unhappy with other business terms of the transaction, although local media reports alleged that there was some internal debate over the proposed price. Meta’s acquisition offer of approximately 1.2 trillion KRW was reportedly about 400 billion KRW above FuriosaAI’s market-assessed corporate value of around 800 billion KRW.
In mid-January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to spend up to $65 billion to expand its AI infrastructure this year, including its first in-house chip for training AI systems, a large data centre and AI talent recruitment.
However, an anonymous industry insider cited by Maeil Kyungjae (MK) explained that ‘Meta was more interested in acquiring a proven system and technological talent for implementing its own AI services, rather than pursuing AI semiconductor development projects like RNGD (Renegade).’
FuriosaAI drew market attention on February 22nd this year following reports that U.S. tech firm Meta Platforms was in talks to acquire the company in a bid to lower its reliance on Nvidia’s expensive AI processors.
Citing unnamed sources, Forbes reported on February 21st that Meta was in discussions to acquire FuriosaAI, and the talks could conclude by the end of February 2025. Forbes said the potential takeover could boost Meta’s efforts for in-house chips amid a shortage of Nvidia accelerators and a growing demand for alternatives.
FuriosaAI turns attention to mass producing and testing RNGD chips
FuriosaAI is reportedly in talks with investors to raise 70 billion KRW, which it hopes to complete this month. It plans to invest the funding into the mass production of its second-generation processor RNGD (Renegade) and operating expenses. The startup has received a letter of intent (LOI) for investment worth 30 billion won from the Industrial Bank of Korea and 12 billion won from Eugene Growth Fund within 3-4 weeks.
In partnership with LG AI Research and Aramco, FuriosaAI disclosed that it had completed testing the RNGD chips, which are said to be best suited for reasoning models. LG AI Research reportedly plans to use RNGD chips in its AI infrastructure, and the startup plans to launch the chips later this year.
The Economic Times reported that FuriosaAI’s eight-year-old second-generation processor RNGD was designed to challenge products from industry competitors like Nvidia and fellow startups like Groq, Cerebras Systems, and SambaNova Systems.
FuriosaAI mentioned that RNGD operates at a thermal design power of 150 watts, compared to up to 1,200 watts for cutting-edge GPUs. RNGD’s price was not publicly available, but industry insiders assume it will cost $10,000 per unit, compared to $40,000 for Nvidia’s H100.
“The commercial success of RNGD is a key variable at the time of the IPO, and we are confident in the success of RNGD…Furiosa AI is ready to change the paradigm of the AI semiconductor market with efficient solutions.”
– Baek Jun-ho
According to FuriosaAI, which has around 150 employees — including 15 at its Silicon Valley office, the startup was currently supplying sample chips to clients such as Saudi Aramco and LG AI Research – the AI division of South Korea’s LG Group.
Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now
