South Korean AI Chip Startup FuriosaAI Reaches $2.9 Billion Valuation in Funding Round
South Korean semiconductor firm FuriosaAI has secured $620 million in Series D funding, quadrupling its valuation to $2.9 billion as it aims to compete with Nvidia in the AI inference hardware market.
Seoul-based AI chip developer FuriosaAI has raised $620 million in its latest funding round, significantly increasing its market valuation to $2.9 billion. The investment was led by Infinitum Partners, with participation from the Korea Development Bank and various international firms, including Singapore’s QUDA Capital and Abu Dhabi’s NeoFort Holding.
The capital infusion comes at a time when the semiconductor industry is under pressure to develop energy-efficient hardware for AI inference tasks. As data center energy consumption rises, investors are increasingly looking for alternatives to the hardware dominated by Nvidia.
Since commencing mass production of its RNGD chip earlier this year, FuriosaAI has sought to capture market share by optimizing data transmission to lower power usage. The company is also collaborating with Broadcom to develop its third-generation AI accelerator.
FuriosaAI currently uses TSMC for production, with an output of 20,000 units this year and plans to double production capacity by 2027. Early adopters of the RNGD technology include Samsung SDS and LG Group.