Rebellions, an AI chip company backed by Samsung and SK Hynix, plans to go public in South Korea next year
Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip startup backed by Samsung and SK Hynix, plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in South Korea in the first or second quarter of next year to capture investors' strong interest in artificial intelligence chips, CEO Sunghyun Park revealed in an interview on Wednesday. He said the company is considering listing on KOSPI instead of KOSDAQ. “Real revenue is now being realized, so we are working with and [Samsung Securities]’s underwriters to prepare for the IPO,” he said. "Basically, our investors prefer the Korean market, especially KOSPI, because we are highly aligned with the Korean government's large-scale project, which is one of the largest investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the world," he added. Park said the company is also evaluating other listing options, such as the U.S. market, and is working with the New York Stock Exchange and Rebellions, which is backed by Samsung, SK Hynix and a major South Korean government fund, is one of a number of startups aiming to capture market share of semiconductors for artificial intelligence inference. Inference refers to the process of running AI models, and this area is becoming increasingly important as companies continue to promote more advanced AI agents. Rebellions sells server systems powered by its Rebel100 NPU chip. As investors continue to be optimistic about semiconductor companies, Rebellions may go public. This year, the PHLX Semiconductor Index, which tracks many chip companies, is up about 80%. Other companies are also trying to capitalize on this interest. Earlier this year, inference chip startup Cerebras Systems went public in the United States. At the same time, SK Hynix, one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers, will be listed on the Nasdaq in the United States this week to take advantage of strong investor demand for memory chips. The company is currently listed in South Korea.