By Majeed Ahmad
Publication Date: 2026-08-24 08:07:00
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AI training kingpin Nvidia is reportedly making another foray into inference silicon after engaging Groq in an unconventional deal that secured Nvidia a nonexclusive technology license while absorbing most of its engineering talent. According to Bloomberg, Nvidia is in early discussions with the Korean inference upstart Rebellions for a technical partnership, an investment, or perhaps even an acquisition.
Like Groq, Rebellions’ chips specialize in memory-centric inference; its compute chiplets carry significant on-chip SRAM to handle the memory-intensive decode stage, while prefill runs elsewhere. That draws a comparison to Groq’s SRAM-based LPU model, which Nvidia acquired for $20 billion in late 2025.
But there’s more to Rebellions’ memory-centric inference: It has forged custom HBM co-design relationships with Samsung and SK Hynix to secure structural memory supply advantages that other pure-play fabless firms cannot replicate. In other words, with these HBM supply partnerships, Rebellions can secure memory allocation that independent AI chip vendors without strategic investor relationships cannot guarantee.
What’s more, this Seoul, South Korea-based inference startup has moved from founding to mass production in just five years. Its ATOM and ATOM-Max chips run Korea’s largest commercial AI service at SK Telecom, powering a…
