South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta, choosing instead to double down on its own AI chip development and production plans, according to local media reports.
The deal reportedly fell apart not over price but due to disagreements around post-acquisition business strategy and organizational structure. FuriosaAI’s decision signals confidence in its long-term vision — and its ambition to compete directly with AI chip giants like Nvidia and AMD.
Meta, like other tech companies racing to build large language models (LLMs), has been working to reduce its dependence on Nvidia’s hardware. Last year, the social media giant unveiled its own custom AI chips and earlier this year committed up to $65 billion in investments to fuel its AI infrastructure and development.
Neither FuriosaAI nor Meta provided immediate comments on the failed deal.
While Meta’s offer may have been lucrative, FuriosaAI appears focused on raising fresh capital instead. The startup is currently in talks with investors to secure about $48 million (KRW 70 billion) and aims to close the funding round by the end of this month.
Founded in 2017 by June Paik — a semiconductor industry veteran with experience at Samsung Electronics and AMD — FuriosaAI is steadily gaining ground in the highly competitive AI hardware space. The company has already developed two AI chips: Warboy and its latest model, Renegade (RNGD), designed to rival Nvidia’s market dominance.
The RNGD chip, optimized for reasoning models, has completed testing in partnership with LG AI Research and Aramco. LG reportedly plans to integrate RNGD into its AI infrastructure, a move that highlights FuriosaAI’s growing relevance in the AI hardware market.
The startup is gearing up to officially launch its RNGD chips later this year, signaling that it’s staying the course — and betting big on carving out its own space in the global AI chip race.
