FuriosaAI, a South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup, has turned down an $800 million takeover offer from US tech giant Meta Platforms, industry sources said on Monday.

Baek Joon-ho, chief executive officer (CEO) of FuriosaAI, informed employees that the company has decided not to proceed with takeover negotiations with Meta, according to the sources. He also officially notified the US company of its decision.

The move comes as FuriosaAI has chosen to continue its independent development and production of AI chips, the sources said, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency.

Founded in 2017, FuriosaAI is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in AI inference chips for data centers. Its flagship product, the RNGD processor, launched last year, is an AI inference chip designed for high-performance data centers and is capable of efficiently handling large language models (LLMs).

In February, reports emerged that Meta was in talks to acquire FuriosaAI as part of its efforts to expand its in-house AI chip capabilities and reduce its reliance on AI chipmaker Nvidia Corp. FuriosaAI confirmed it was in discussions with Meta over a possible takeover, with all options being considered.

The company has gained attention following a recent US report suggesting that Meta was considering acquiring the AI chip startup, with negotiations possibly concluding as early as this month.

“It would be ideal to secure investment without having to sell the company, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to raise funding at the scale we desire here in the country,” Jeong Young-beom, managing director at FuriosaAI, said earlier.

“Nothing has been decided yet. We are keeping all options open and will make the best choice,” he added.

According to the company, its mission is to build AI chips capable of running the world’s most advanced models efficiently.

“We believe this is a critical lever in making AI computing more sustainable for the next generation,” FuriosaAI said.

IANS