FuriosaAI Secures $125M in Series C Funding to Develop Next-Gen AI Inference Chip

FuriosaAI, a semiconductor company, has closed a $125 million Series C funding round to scale production of its next-gen AI inference chip, RNGD. The chip achieved 2.25x better LLM inference performance per watt than GPUs. The company has also strengthened its executive team with two industry leaders. The funding will enable Furiosa to deliver a new foundation for AI that is both powerful and efficient.

South Korean semiconductor startup FuriosaAI has closed a $125 million Series C funding round, aimed at scaling the production of its next-generation AI inference chip, RNGD. This investment, which brings FuriosaAI's total funding to $246 million and values the company at $735 million, will support the company's mission to deliver a new foundation for AI that is both powerful and efficient.

The funding round was led by both new and existing investors, including the Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Keistone Partners, PI Partners, and Kakao Investment. This latest round follows FuriosaAI's decision to turn down an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta Platforms earlier in the year, opting to continue its independent growth path.

The company's RNGD chip has already demonstrated significant performance improvements over traditional GPU-based solutions. LG AI Research has adopted the RNGD chip for its EXAONE foundation models, achieving 2.25x better LLM inference performance per watt than GPUs. This validation has further bolstered FuriosaAI's position in the AI hardware market.

To drive its next phase of growth, FuriosaAI has also strengthened its executive team with the appointments of Jeehoon Kang as Chief Research Officer and Youngjin Cho as Vice President of Hardware. Kang, a renowned expert in parallel systems from KAIST, will lead compiler and software architecture, while Cho, a silicon and SoC expert from Samsung Electronics, will accelerate the company's chip development.

The new funding will be used to accelerate mass production of RNGD to support global enterprise customers and lay the groundwork for the development of Furiosa's next-generation chip. FuriosaAI co-founder and CEO June Paik noted, "AI today is dependent on a broken business model, where the infrastructure costs and constraints of power-hungry GPUs are a critical, rapidly worsening roadblock. We're committed to solving this so that AI is truly sustainable – not just environmentally but economically as well."

This investment reflects the growing demand for high-performance, efficient AI infrastructure and highlights FuriosaAI's potential to transform the AI hardware landscape. The company's innovative approach to AI computing aligns with the broader trend of sustainability and efficiency in technology development.

References:
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/furiosaai-secures-111005002.html
[2] https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20250730613509/furiosaai-closes-125m-investment-round-to-scale-production-of-next-gen-ai-inference-chip
[3] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250730613509/en/FuriosaAI-Closes-%24125M-Investment-Round-to-Scale-Production-of-Next-Gen-AI-Inference-Chip