South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta. According to reports, the deal collapsed not because of the price but due to disagreements over company structure and future goals.

FuriosaAI Aims to Compete with NVIDIA

Meanwhile, FuriosaAI is positioning itself as a strong competitor to NVIDIA in the AI chip industry. Founded by June Paik, a former Samsung and AMD employee, the company develops AI chips that help devices and applications run faster and more efficiently.

Meta Seeks AI Independence

Earlier this year, reports suggested that Meta and FuriosaAI were in discussions. Meta has been actively working to reduce its dependence on NVIDIA while improving its Llama AI models.

As a result, the company introduced custom AI chips last year to support its AI initiatives. Furthermore, in January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a $65 billion investment plan for 2025. This plan includes building a massive data center and expanding Meta’s AI workforce.

Additionally, Meta has started developing its own AI chips to handle ad ranking and content recommendations on Facebook and Instagram.

FuriosaAI Seeks New Investments

At the same time, FuriosaAI is looking to raise $48 million this month. The company has already begun talks with investors.

So far, FuriosaAI has developed two AI chips—Warboy and Renegade (RNGD). Recently, it completed testing the RNGD chips in collaboration with LG AI Research and Aramco.

As a next step, LG AI Research plans to integrate these chips into its AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, FuriosaAI intends to officially launch them later this year.