Rebellions finalizes merger, becomes AI semiconductor unicorn

(SK telecom)

AI semiconductor startup Rebellions has completed its merger with Sapeon Korea, formerly owned by SK Group affiliates, officially relaunching under the “Rebellions” name. The merger, first announced in June 2024, was finalized on Monday after six months of preparation.

Following the merger, SK Group affiliates, including SK telecom and SK hynix, became the largest shareholders in Rebellions. However, operational control remains with CEO Park Sung-hyun and Rebellions’ original management team, whose combined stake exceeds the affiliates’ shares. Park, a Ph.D. graduate in computer science from MIT, is a seasoned expert in AI and system semiconductors with experience at Intel, SpaceX, and Morgan Stanley.

With this merger, Rebellions has secured support from SK telecom and SK hynix, paving the way for global expansion in the AI data center market. The company plans to leverage this backing to achieve tangible results in key international markets, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.

On the hardware front, Rebellions aims to address rapidly growing AI demands by strategically using chiplet technology in its next-generation AI semiconductor, “REBEL.” This technology integrates multiple semiconductors into a single package, allowing for efficient scalability. Rebellions also intends to enhance its role in the PyTorch ecosystem, an open-source machine learning library, by facilitating the efficient development and implementation of AI services.

“The merged entity is valued at approximately 1.3 trillion won ($935.25 million), marking the birth of a new AI semiconductor unicorn representing South Korea,” a Rebellions spokesperson said.

The merger reflects a shared understanding within the industry of the urgent need for economies of scale and enhanced collaboration in the AI semiconductor sector, especially as AI infrastructure becomes a critical strategic asset globally. Rebellions plans to focus on post-merger integration over the next three months to consolidate its resources, workforce, and partnerships, positioning itself for global competition.

Rebellions is also strengthening collaborations with major semiconductor companies to accelerate the development of high-efficiency solutions tailored for AI inference. The company is currently working with Arm, Samsung Electronics’ foundry division, and ADTechnology to develop an AI CPU chiplet platform. Based on Arm’s Neoverse V3 computing subsystem and manufactured using Samsung’s advanced 2-nanometer process technology, the platform is expected to more than double energy efficiency compared to existing systems for large-scale language model computations.

Commenting on the merger, CEO Park said, “With NVIDIA’s dominance reshaping the global AI semiconductor market, this merger between Korea’s leading NPU companies marks a critical juncture that will determine the future success of the nation’s AI semiconductor industry.”