[테크월드뉴스=김태윤 기자] AI semiconductor startup Rebellions and SK Telecom announced today that they have signed an agreement to merge Rebellions and SK Telecom's affiliate Sapeon Korea.

The signing of the agreement marks the birth of Korea's leading AI semiconductor company. The two companies announced their intention to merge in June with the goal of enhancing their competitiveness in global AI infrastructure, and have been conducting mutual due diligence and discussing specific merger terms.

The two companies have agreed on an enterprise value ratio of 2.4:1 for Rebellion and Sapeon Korea. The new combined entity is expected to have an enterprise value of more than $800 million USD and become a unicorn company representing Korean AI semiconductors.

The signing of the agreement marks the birth of Korea's leading AI semiconductor company. The two companies announced their intention to merge in June with the goal of enhancing their competitiveness in global AI infrastructure, and have been conducting mutual due diligence and discussing specific merger terms.

The two companies have agreed on an enterprise value ratio of 2.4:1 for Rebellion and Sapeon Korea. The new combined entity is expected to have an enterprise value of more than KRW 1 trillion and become a unicorn company representing Korean AI semiconductors.

After the merger, the surviving corporation will be called Sapeon Korea, but the new company will be called Rebellion, as their management team will lead the merged entity. Mr. Park, who has been leading Rebellion's rapid growth, will take over the management of the combined company.

In order to ensure the stable management of the combined entity, Sapeon's shareholders, comprising SK Telecom, SK Hynix, and SK Square, will sell 3% of their shares (post-merger) before the merger to ensure that Rebellion's management remains the number one shareholder of the combined entity.

In addition, after the merger, the major shareholders, including Rebellion management and Sapeon, agreed not to dispose of their shares without mutual consent for a certain period of time to ensure smooth management of the newly merged corporation.

As a strategic investor after the merger, SKT will actively support the merged entity's entry into the global AI semiconductor market and improve the competitiveness of Korean AI semiconductors. SK Square and SK Hynix will also support the combined entity as shareholders of Sapeon.

Rebellion and SKT see the next two years as a “golden time” for South Korea to take the lead in the global AI semiconductor market. Following the signing of this agreement, the companies plan to accelerate their efforts to launch the combined entity within the year. 

Rebellion is an AI semiconductor startup co-founded in 2020 by CEO Sung-hyun Park and others, and has rapidly grown to become Korea's leading AI semiconductor company, launching two chips in just three years and attracting $250 million USD in cumulative investment from domestic and foreign investors. Following the mass production of its AI semiconductor ATOM, Rebellion will introduce REBEL, a next-generation AI semiconductor that supports large-scale language models, later this year.

Sapeon Korea is a specialized AI semiconductor company that was spun off from SKT's internal R&D organization in 2016. It has been developing high-performance AI semiconductors, including introducing the first AI semiconductor for data centers in Korea in 2020 and unveiling the next-generation AI semiconductor 'X330' in November last year.

“The signing of this merger agreement was made possible by the great determination and support of investors and major business partners of both companies, who agreed that a national-level all-out war was necessary for Korea's AI semiconductor industry to take off,” said Sung-hyun Park, CEO of Rebellion. "With the mindset of starting the real game, we will stand out as a global AI semiconductor company by exerting the strength of Korea's representatives in the more intense 'AI semiconductor war' than ever before."

“The signing of this agreement will greatly enhance the global competitiveness of 'AI semiconductors,' one of the three areas of the AI value chain that SKT is building,” said Young-young Ryu. ”SKT will continue to make proactive investments and collaborations to become a global AI leader.”