FuriosaAI Gets $125 Million to Build New AI Chips

Key Points:

• FuriosaAI, a South Korean startup, has secured $125 million in new funding.
• The money will be used to scale production of its RNGD chip and develop its next-generation hardware.
• The company’s chip is a sustainable alternative to power-hungry GPUs, proving to be 2.25 times more efficient for customers like LG AI Research.
• FuriosaAI is so confident in its plan that it recently turned down an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta Platforms.
• The company has hired new leaders from Samsung and KAIST to steer its hardware and software development.

A South Korean company that builds special computer chips for artificial intelligence just got a huge boost. FuriosaAI announced it has raised $125 million in new funding. This is a big deal for the company, which is working to change how AI works behind the scenes.

This new investment brings the total money raised by FuriosaAI to $246 million, showing that a lot of people believe in what they are building. The company is now valued at a massive $735 million.

What the Money Is For

So, what do you do with $125 million? For FuriosaAI, the plan is simple and focused. First, they want to make more of their main AI chip, called RNGD (pronounced Renegade). This chip is already getting a lot of attention. Second, they will start creating their next-generation chip, which they hope will be even more powerful and efficient.

The company’s CEO, June Paik, explained their goal clearly:

We’re committed to solving this so that AI is truly sustainable—not just environmentally but economically as well. This funding allows us to deliver a new foundation for AI that is both powerful and efficient.

An AI Chip That Uses Less Power

If you’ve ever used a powerful computer for a long time, you know it can get hot and use a lot of electricity. Now imagine the giant data centers that power today’s AI—the energy use is a huge problem. Most of these data centers use chips called GPUs, which were not originally designed for AI and consume a ton of power.

FuriosaAI created the RNGD chip to fix this. It’s built from the ground up just for AI tasks. And it works. The company recently celebrated a major win when LG AI Research chose to use the RNGD chip. Why? Because it delivered 2.25 times better performance for every watt of power used compared to a standard GPU. That means you get more AI power for less electricity, which is a game-changer for any company.

A Confident Company with New Leaders

FuriosaAI is so confident in its technology that it recently turned down an $800 million offer to be bought by Meta Platforms. Instead of selling, the company chose to keep growing on its own.

To help lead that growth, they’ve also brought in some new leaders. Jeehoon Kang, an expert in computer software, is now the Chief Research Officer. Youngjin Cho, who has a long history of building chips at Samsung, is the new Vice President of Hardware. These hires show the company is serious about building the best team to tackle its big goals.

What Investors Are Saying

The people funding FuriosaAI are just as excited. They see a company with the right technology at the right time.

Yoon D. Kang, the CEO of one of the investment firms, PI Partners, said:

The world urgently needs new solutions to scale AI compute, and we believe Furiosa is one of the very few companies with the proven architecture innovation and software maturity to deliver.

Another investor, Kakao Investment CEO Do-Young Kim, added:

FuriosaAI has built an exciting alternative to GPUs for AI inference. Their architecture delivers the performance and power efficiency that is critical for the next wave of AI applications. They have the right technology and the right team to transform AI hardware, and we are excited to help fuel their growth.

With fresh money, a proven product, and a growing team, FuriosaAI is a company to keep an eye on. They aren’t just building another computer chip; they are trying to build a more sustainable future for artificial intelligence.