South Korea’s AI semiconductor startup Rebellions has established a new unit in Riyadh to expand its operations and supply Aramco’s AI data centres, deepening ties with the Kingdom as demand for sovereign AI infrastructure accelerates.
The move follows a $14.4 million investment from Wa’ed Ventures, the venture arm of Aramco, and ongoing collaborations on customised semiconductor solutions tailored to Saudi needs. The Riyadh hub will act as an operational base to deliver Rebellions’ 5nm neural processing unit (NPU) products while also exploring partnerships with Saudi telecom and IT firms.
“The establishment of a Saudi unit will be the starting point for our vision to keep up with rising demand for sovereign AI in the region,” said Rebellions CEO Park Sung-hyun.
Founded in 2020, Rebellions develops AI accelerators designed for data centres and large-scale inferencing workloads, including support for large language models. Its chips are already being integrated into ATOM accelerator cards used by telecom operators, and last year the company developed an AI system-on-chip optimised for generative AI.
In Saudi Arabia, the company’s local presence is expected to accelerate delivery into Aramco’s next-generation AI data centres, while positioning Rebellions to play a role in the Kingdom’s national push to scale up AI infrastructure.
Beyond the Middle East, Rebellions is also preparing for its next phase of growth. The startup raised fresh funding from Samsung in July 2025 and is targeting a $150–$200 million round ahead of an IPO. Since its founding, Rebellions has raised over $220 million, with backers including SK Hynix, SK Telecom, Korea Telecom, and Aramco.
The company’s 2023 merger with fellow South Korean startup Sapeon positioned it as a homegrown challenger to Nvidia and AMD in the AI chip inferencing space. Rebellions is working with Samsung’s foundry to bring its second-generation Rebel chip to market later this year, using a 4nm process and high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
“Initial results have been very promising,” Park told CNBC, adding that Samsung’s investment reflected confidence in the chip’s performance.
