FuriosaAI Rejects Meta’s $800M Offer to Pursue AI Chip Development

FuriosaAI, a Seoul-based startup founded in 2017 by June Paik, is taking a different approach. The company has, according to reports, rejected an $800 million buy-out offer from Meta. The company’s leadership has come to the courageous decision to turn down the sweet deal. Instead, it plans to focus on designing and manufacturing its own chips for AI. This strategic move demonstrates FuriosaAI’s dedication to fostering innovation and achieving accelerated growth within the highly competitive AI technology industry.

June has an impressive pedigree, having previously worked at tech titans Samsung Electronics and AMD. Since founding FuriosaAI, he has personally led the company in achieving important technology breakthroughs. The startup has largely under the radar built two protective advanced AI chips, Warboy and Renegade (RNGD), for reasoning models. These RNGD chips are the latest completed testing phases. This creative collaboration with FuriosaAI and industry leaders LG AI Research and Aramco demonstrates that FuriosaAI is an impressive powerhouse that’s making waves within the AI realm.

FuriosaAI’s technical achievements are undeniably impressive. At this point, the team is on the road and pitching to investors, looking at a roughly $48 million (KRW 70 billion) raise. The company plans to wrap up this round of fundraising by the end of this month. This capital injection will greatly expand FuriosaAI’s resources. Crucially, it will allow the company to double down on AI chip development and help increase its share of the overall market.

FuriosaAI has recently announced its decision to refuse Meta’s acquisition offer. This strategic move demonstrates its strategic vision to remain independent while doubling down on developing and improving its proprietary technologies. This strategic move underscores their confidence in their products’ potential to truly democratize AI and make a profound impact in the AI revolution. FuriosaAI is pretty busy preparing their products and AI chips for mass production. Their goal is to stake a very large national claim in the global technology marketplace.