South Korea to invest $166 million in AI chip startup Rebellions

SEOUL, March 26 (Reuters) – South Korea’s industry ministry on Tuesday said the Financial Services Commission’s advisory board approved a 250 billion won ($166 million) investment in a local artificial intelligence chip startup called Rebellions, part of a government-backed push to nurture a homegrown advanced semiconductor firm.

Here are some details:

* South Korea’s Financial Services Commission advisoryboard, which evaluates investments in advanced strategicindustries, approved a 250 billion won direct investment intoRebellions, an AI chip startup. * Rebellions, founded in 2020, designs neural processingunits (NPUs) that handle AI computations. * The decision was made at a fund management committeemeeting for the state-led “National Growth Fund,” marking thefirst direct investment under the country’s “K-Nvidia”initiative. * The funding will support Rebellions’ mass production ofNPU chips and the development of next-generation AIsemiconductors, the industry ministry said in a statement. * The “K-Nvidia” project, jointly led by the FinancialServices Commission and the Ministry of Science and ICT, seeksto nurture a globally competitive AI chip company amidintensifying competition in the sector, which is dominated byU.S. firms like Nvidia. * The move underscores Seoul’s efforts to strengthen itsposition in the AI supply chain and reduce reliance on foreigntechnology, as demand for high-performance computing chipssurges.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)