NVIDIA, the South Korean chip startup Rebellions and the Korean phone company SK Telecom announced on Nov. 8, U.S. time, that they plan to build AI computer systems that mix NVIDIA's chips with Rebellions' own. Rebellions plans to build systems for its next chip, the Rebel R200, on NVIDIA's standard rack design. It will link the R200 to NVIDIA's chips through NVLink Fusion, a program that opens the high-speed links NVIDIA uses between its own chips to other makers' chips. SK Telecom, which has worked with NVIDIA for years, plans to run the systems in its AI data center. It plans to connect them to its own AI models, including one called A.X K2, and to public services under the government's AI for All project. The companies expect the systems to be ready in 2028.
NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang says Korea's chipmakers can couple their own chips tightly with NVIDIA's to run AI work. NVIDIA says Rebellions also gets access to the manufacturers and parts suppliers that already build to NVIDIA's rack designs.
The plan turns on splitting the work. Rebellions designs the R200 for inference, running a trained model to answer requests, as opposed to training it. Producing an AI answer happens in two stages: first the model reads the whole request, then it writes the answer out a piece at a time. The companies plan to give the first stage to NVIDIA's chips and the second to Rebellions'. The companies aim for the split to let the systems handle more requests and use less power for each one.
Korea's science ministry supports the plan. Bae Kyung-hoon, the deputy prime minister and science minister, says the plan lets Korean-designed AI chips enter the computing market alongside NVIDIA. The companies call the goal sovereign AI, which Huang describes as a nation turning its own language, culture and expertise into AI. They say the work aims at AI services tailored to Korea's language, industries and priorities. NVIDIA says the ministry is backing work between NVIDIA and Korean chip designers, beginning with Rebellions.
The three companies signed a memorandum of understanding, an early-stage agreement, on Monday, Nov. 9, Seoul time, at NVIDIA's AI Day Seoul event, a news report says. They have given no money terms, prices or speed figures, and the R200 is still in development, so how well the mixed systems will work is not yet known. SK Telecom, which will run the systems, is also one of Rebellions' investors, alongside Samsung, SK Hynix, Arm and Aramco.