Bravo
If ARM was an arm, BRN would be its biceps💪!
Another interesting development with Aramco now investing in Rebellions, an AI chip design startup.
Here's a brief timeline of events I threw together:
- In February 2022 Aramco Ventures led Rain AI's neuromorphic chip start up $25M funding round.
- In September 2022 Aramco Ventures invested in Prophesee.
- In March 2023 Aramco signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., which sets forth preliminary plans for a strategic collaboration that would localize an industrial 5G technology ecosystem.
- In October 2023 Rebellions, a pioneering AI semiconductor startup, announces a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics to co-develop their next-generation AI chip, Rebel.
- In December 2023, the Biden administration forced Saudi Aramco-backed venture capital firm to sell its shares in Rain AI.
- In May 2024, Qualcomm and Aramco collaborate to drive digital transformation on a global scale to develop advanced end-to-end IoT solutions.
- In July 2024, Rebellions receives a $14.4 million investment from Aramco.
South Korea's Rebellions secures investment from Aramco
It's the first S.Korean startup to receive $14.4 bn investment from Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil group
By Joo-Wan Kim 17 HOURS AGO
1 Min read
https://www.kedglobal.com/energy/newsView/ked202303070011
Rebellions Inc., a South Korean artificial intelligence chip design startup, announced on Tuesday that it secured investment from Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil group Aramco, marking the first time a South Korean startup has done so.
A Rebellions source explained that it raised 20 billion won ($14.4 million) from Aramco's corporate venture capital fund, Wa'ed Ventures, and plans to enter the Middle Eastern AI semiconductor market.
In particular, as the Saudi government aims for sovereign AI by building its AI infrastructure and services, Rebellions plans to establish a local entity in Saudi Arabia.
Wa'ed Ventures, a $500 million corporate venture capital firm fully funded by Aramco, is known for investing in high-growth tech startups to support Saudi Arabia's economic diversification and new business growth.
According to Rebellions, a Series B investment of 165 billion won ($119 million) earlier this year, its cumulative investment amount has increased to 300 billion won ($217 million).
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S.Korea's Rebellions secures investment from Aramco - KED Global
Rebellions Inc., a South Korean artificial intelligence chip design startup, announced on Tuesday that it secured investment from Saudi Arabia's state-owned oiwww.kedglobal.com
Following on from the above, there is something HUGE brewing here - South Korean chipmakers Sapeon and Rebellions have agreed to merge!!!!
This now brings together all of the following companies: Aramco + Prophesee + Samsung + Rebellions + Qauclomm + Sapeon.
South Korea has been strategically working towards becoming one of the world's top three countries in terms of AI innovation and this merrger seem to be a by-product of that. What is particularly fascinating about this is that South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol referred to neuromorphic devices in the speech he gave in April 2024.
Sapeons' CEO has also discussed back in November 2022 neuromorphic technologies to improve memory operation processing performance.
Extract.

Sapeon "Enhancing computation with next-generation memory artificial brain ‘CIM'"
SK Group artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor fabless Sapeon Korea introduced the next-generation memory semiconductor Compute-in-Memory (CIM) technology trend with enhanced computing functions.

I wonder where they could get their hands on the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle, this neuromorphic technology?
