South Korea-based artificial intelligence chip manufacturer FuriosaAI has announced a major partnership approximately three months after turning down an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta. The startup will supply its in-house developed AI chip, RNGD, for use in LG AI Research’s newly launched EXAONE 4.0 AI platform.
This collaboration targets sectors such as electronics, finance, telecommunications, and biotechnology, aiming to strengthen the diverse applications of artificial intelligence. LG’s next-generation EXAONE model is regarded as South Korea’s leading sovereign AI technology, and it is expected to be used not only within LG but across the broader South Korean AI ecosystem. Since LG is also collaborating with international clients, this partnership opens significant opportunities for FuriosaAI’s chip to reach global markets.
June Paik, founder and CEO of FuriosaAI, told TechCrunch that the deal with Meta fell through not due to pricing issues, but due to differences in long-term business strategy and organizational structure:
“We want to continue our mission. This partnership is a major step forward—both personally and for the company—to make AI computing more sustainable.”
The RNGD chip developed by FuriosaAI is specifically designed for AI applications and, unlike traditional GPUs, is not a general-purpose processor. It is built from the ground up to efficiently handle AI model execution. According to the company, the RNGD chip outperformed competing GPUs by 2.25 times in inference performance when tested with LG AI Research’s EXAONE model. It also demonstrated greater energy efficiency, offering a competitive edge in both performance and total cost of ownership.
LG’s decision to adopt FuriosaAI’s chip is particularly noteworthy in an industry dominated by tech giants like Nvidia. It is seen as a rare public endorsement of an alternative AI hardware provider.
FuriosaAI, headquartered in Seoul with a satellite office in Santa Clara (USA), operates with a small but global team of just 15 employees. While the company has not disclosed any new fundraising plans, this strategic partnership positions it for significant growth both regionally and internationally.
