- Rebellions plans to hire global banks in March for a listing.
- Rebellions, backed by Saudi Aramco, Temasek, and KT Corp., is developing a next-gen AI chip with Samsung, set for delivery in June 2025.
OUR TAKE
South Korean startup Rebellions Inc. plans to go public by late 2025 or early 2026, targeting the growing AI chip market. Following its merger with SK Telecom’s Sapeon Korea, the company will select global banks for a domestic listing around March, with Samsung Securities as lead broker. Rebellions, backed by major investors and collaborating with Samsung Electronics, is focusing on AI inference chips, aiming to capitalise on the rising demand driven by technologies like ChatGPT.
-Tacy Ding, BTW reporter.
What happened
South Korean startup Rebellions Inc. is aiming to go public as early as the end of 2025, seeking to capitalise on the surging demand for chips used in generative AI.
Rebellions Inc. plans to choose global banks for a domestic listing around March, following its merger with SK Telecom Co.’s Sapeon Korea in November, according to CEO Park Sunghyun in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Depending on its growth trajectory and market conditions, the company aims for an initial public offering by late 2025 or early 2026. Samsung Securities Co. has been selected as the lead broker for the IPO.
Rebellions is among several emerging companies seeking to enter the expanding AI semiconductor market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia Corp. Global capital is increasingly directed towards firms across the US and China that are investing billions in advanced AI technologies, a surge driven by the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Also read：Rebellions and Sapeon merge to challenge chips giants NVIDIA
Also read：South Korean AI chip firms Rebellions and Sapeon announce merger
Why it’s important
Rebellions, supported by Saudi Aramco’s venture arm, Temasek Holdings Pte’s Pavilion Capital, and South Korea’s KT Corp., is collaborating with Samsung Electronics Co. to develop a next-generation AI chip. The company is set to deliver the chip design to Samsung next month. This chip, to be manufactured using Samsung’s 4-nanometer process, is anticipated to feature four of Samsung’s most advanced high-bandwidth memory chips, the 12-layer HBM3E.
Park is set to lead the combined Rebellions-Sapeon entity, which is projected to have an enterprise value exceeding 1 trillion won (approximately $750 million).
The 40-year-old CEO anticipates that the company’s newest chip will be shipped to customers around June 2025. Instead of competing directly with Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the AI accelerator market, Rebellions plans to initially concentrate on inference, which involves supporting predictions and conclusions for real-world applications, rather than focusing on training.
