Korean AI Chip Startup Furiosa AI to Supply ‘Renegade’ Chips to Major Korean Conglomerate

South Korean AI semiconductor startup Furiosa AI is set to begin supplying its “Renegade” AI chips to a major Korean conglomerate in July 2025, with LG widely considered to be the likely customer according to the Herald Business.

This development comes as global tech companies work to reduce their dependence on Nvidia’s AI chips, potentially accelerating South Korea’s efforts to establish an independent AI semiconductor ecosystem.

The Renegade chip incorporates SK Hynix’s fourth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM3) and is manufactured using TSMC’s 5-nanometer process. It reportedly offers 60% better power efficiency compared to Nvidia’s latest AI chips.

Furiosa AI specializes in neural processing units (NPUs) for inference, which are more affordable and energy-efficient than the GPUs that currently dominate the market.

Founded in 2017 by CEO Bak Jun-ho, who previously worked at AMD and Samsung Electronics, Furiosa AI has emerged as a promising AI semiconductor fabless company in South Korea alongside Rebellions.

The company previously declined an acquisition offer exceeding 1 trillion won (approximately $750 million) from Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

LG AI Research has been testing Renegade samples with its “EXAONE” large AI model, with recent positive test results suggesting an imminent supply agreement.

Furiosa AI plans to launch more cost-effective products in the future, similar to those from Chinese AI startup Deepseek.

The semiconductor industry has called for stronger government policies to nurture AI chip development and prevent the outflow of domestic technology and talent abroad.