It has been confirmed that Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, met directly with Park Sung-hyun, CEO of domestic AI semiconductor company Rebellion. While foreign media reported that the two discussed technical cooperation, investment, and even the possibility of an acquisition, Rebellion acknowledged the meeting.
A Rebellion official told MoneyToday on the 23rd, "CEO Jensen Huang and CEO Park Sung-hyun met." However, regarding the discussion content, they said, "We do not know." Previously, Bloomberg, citing multiple sources, reported that the two CEOs met recently at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, to discuss cooperation plans. Investment was mentioned, as well as the possibility of an acquisition, but since it is in the early stages, whether a deal will actually be finalized remains unclear.
Founded in 2020, Rebellion has developed NPUs (neural processing units) for data centers and set its goal to become "the number one outside Nvidia's camp." In March, it received a corporate valuation of 3.4 trillion won through a pre-IPO worth 640 billion won, and secured 300 billion won in policy funds as the first direct investment of the National Growth Fund. If M&A talks materialize, not only existing shareholders but also the government's stance will inevitably become a point of interest.
It is not the first time a domestic NPU company has emerged as an acquisition target for global big tech. Meta previously proposed acquiring FuriusAI for 800 million dollars (about 1.2 trillion won), but was rejected. Nvidia is also quickly expanding its foothold in Korea. CEO Huang met with Choi Tae-won, Lee Jae-yong, and Jeong Ui-seon (Chairman) consecutively last month, and signed an MOU with LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo this month. Nvidia also announced plans to invest 1.2 trillion dollars in Naver.
in TECH
