Korean chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million takeover offer from Meta Platforms Inc., choosing instead to grow the business as an independent company, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Meta had been in discussions about acquiring Seoul-based FuriosaAI since the start of this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private. A representative for FuriosaAI declined to comment. Meta officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment outside regular business hours on Sunday.
FuriosaAI is one of only a handful of Asian startups that have attracted Meta. Led by June Paik, who previously worked at Samsung Electronics Co. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., it develops semiconductors for AI inferencing, or services. The eight-year-old company’s second-generation processor, RNGD (pronounced “Renegade”), is designed to challenge products from industry leader Nvidia Corp. as well as fellow startups Groq Inc., SambaNova Systems Inc. and Cerebras Systems Inc.
Shares in South Korea-based venture capital firm DSC Investment Inc., a big backer of the startup’s, plunged more than 16% Monday. The stock had climbed sharply since news of a potential Meta takeover surfaced in February.
Read the article by Yoolim Lee and Riley Griffin / Bloomberg
