Seoul-based AI chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million takeover bid from Meta, in accordance with particulars from a neighborhood day by day. The negotiations between the 2 firms fell aside over disagreements round post-acquisition technique and organisational construction, not the value.
Based in 2017, FuriosaAI developed RNGD, an AI chip optimised for Llama 2 and Llama 3. The chip is claimed to eat much less energy than NVIDIA’s H100 GPUs.
FuriosaAI has raised $115 million from buyers, together with Naver and DSC Funding. CEO June Paik, previously of Samsung and AMD, holds an 18.4% stake.
This acquisition meant to cut back Meta’s reliance on NVIDIA for AI chips. Final yr, the tech big launched its customized chips and introduced plans to spend as much as $65 billion on AI initiatives in 2025.
Earlier this yr, it was reported that OpenAI can be constructing its customized chips.
The corporate plans to finalise the design quickly and ship it to TSMC for manufacturing, with mass manufacturing anticipated in 2026. A staff of 40 engineers, led by former Google worker Richard Ho, is creating the chip in partnership with Broadcom. The chip might be used to coach AI fashions and enhance over time.
Tech giants Microsoft and Meta have confronted challenges in producing AI chips. OpenAI’s transfer aligns with trade efforts to cut back dependence on NVIDIA, which controls 80% of the AI chip market. Microsoft and Meta plan to take a position $80 billion and $60 billion in AI infrastructure subsequent yr, respectively.
The chip will use 3-nm expertise with options much like NVIDIA’s, together with quick reminiscence and networking.