ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – Artificial intelligence (AI) startups Rebellions and Sapeon Korea have officially merged, creating South Korea’s first AI unicorn, according to SK Telecom, Sapeon Korea’s parent company.
Rebellions, a fabless chip designer valued at KRW900 billion (usd664 million), and Sapeon Korea, an AI chip supplier for data centres valued at KRW550 billion, are joining forces to compete in the global AI chip market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia.
The global AI chip market was valued at USD34.3 billion in 2023, with Nvidia holding a 94 per cent market share. The new merged entity is expected to launch by the end of the year.
The two companies agreed to a corporate value ratio of one to 2.4 for Sapeon Korea and Rebellions. The newly merged company is expected to exceed KRW1 trillion in corporate value and become the country’s first “unicorn” company in the AI sector.
Sapeon Korea will remain the surviving company, but the merged company’s name will be Rebellions.
Rebellions co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Park Sung-hyun, who led the rapid growth of the startup, will be in charge of management.
“This merger was possible because of the strong determination and support of the investors and major business partners of both companies,” Park said. “We are starting the real game, and we will demonstrate our strength as Korea’s top firm in the AI chip war, which is more intense than ever.”
To ensure the stable operation of the merged company by Rebellions management, shareholders of Sapeon Korea, consisting of SK Telecom, SK hynix and SK Square, will sell three per cent of their shares – based on the post-merger stakes – for Rebellion executives to maintain their position as largest shareholders.
Promising preemptive investment and support, SKT CEO Ryu Young-sang said, “With the merger, we will be able to boost the competitive edge in the global AI chip market, which is one of the three main parts of SKT’s AI value chain.”
