Nvidia's AI chip challenger FuriosaAI scores first major customer, LG
The South Korean start-up won final approval for its AI chip RNGD (pronounced 'Renegade') from LG AI Research.
– FuriosaAI, the Seoul-based start-up seeking to design chips to compete with industry leader Nvidia, has sealed its first major contract months after rejecting an US$800 million ($1.02 billion) acquisition offer from Meta Platforms.
The start-up won final approval for its artificial intelligence chip RNGD (pronounced 'Renegade') from LG AI Research after seven months of rigorous evaluation spanning performance and efficiency.
LG will use the chip to power its Exaone large-language models, FuriosaAI chief executive June Paik told Bloomberg News.
LG's approval is a validation for FuriosaAI, one of a handful of South Korean chip designers hoping to ride a post-ChatGPT boom in AI infrastructure.
The RNGD chip was designed to challenge not just Nvidia but also fellow start-ups Groq, SambaNova Systems and Cerebras Systems.
'For the last eight years, we worked very hard from research and development to product phases and finally this commercialisation phase,' Mr Paik said. 'This signals that our product is ready for enterprise adoption.'
Founded in 2017 by Mr Paik, who previously worked at Samsung Electronics and Advanced Micro Devices, FuriosaAI develops semiconductors for AI inferencing or services. It claims to deliver 2.25 times better inference performance per watt compared to graphics processing units.
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Like Korean peers Rebellions and Semifive, FuriosaAI is trying to tap a giant semiconductor ecosystem of talent, suppliers and government incentives that have sprung up around Samsung and SK Hynix over the past decade.
As part of their partnership, FuriosaAI and LG intend to deploy RNGD servers using Exaone across a range of industries from electronics to finance. They will also power LG's in-house enterprise AI agent, ChatExaone, which the company plans to expand to external clients.
FuriosaAI is working to secure its next customers in the United States, the Middle East and South-east Asia. It expects to reach similar agreements in the second half of 2025, Paik said.
FuriosaAI attracted public attention when news emerged in March that it had rejected Meta's advances, opting for independence.
It plans to raise capital before eventually pursuing an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. BLOOMBERG
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