'Meta Sale Rumors' FuriosaAI CEO: "AI Semiconductors Must Be Supported on a Large Scale"

Need to Support NPUs Through Demand Projects and Testbeds

The founder of Puriosa AI, a domestic artificial intelligence (AI) chip design startup currently in acquisition negotiations with Meta, suggested to the government the need for a large-scale AI semiconductor support project.

On the 5th, Baek Junho, CEO of Puriosa AI, appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee's current issues inquiry and stated, "If the government conducts demand projects and testbeds for (AI semiconductors) on a fairly large scale, it will be a great help to South Korea's AI semiconductor companies."

In response to criticism that neural processing unit (NPU)-based AI semiconductors are still insufficient, he rebutted, "We are evaluating second-generation chips with various clients," adding, "The software aspect is also approaching a level close to commercialization." Puriosa AI has successively developed products such as Warboy and Renegade, which are more cost-effective than NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs).

In response to a question from Jeong Dong-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, asking to evaluate the acquisition and investment intentions of global companies like Meta and TSMC, Yoon Geon-su, CEO of DSC Investment, replied, "From the perspective of the venture ecosystem, it is very welcome." He added, "Looking at our country's venture capital market, we can nurture unicorn companies, but there are limits when trying to surpass the unicorn stage," and said, "I believe this market needs to grow much larger than it is now." DSC Investment is a venture capital (VC) firm that made an early investment in Puriosa AI along with the Korea Development Bank and Naver, holding more than 10% of the shares.

Earlier, Jeong Young-beom, executive director of Puriosa AI, stated at a National Assembly forum on AI promotion policies held on the 18th of last month, "It would be good to receive investment without necessarily selling, but it is unfortunate that the desired scale is not met domestically," and added, "No decisions have been made yet regarding the sale. We are keeping all options open and discussing. We will make the best choice."