Core Viewpoint - Samsung and SK are engaged in a subtle psychological battle over the AI semiconductor company Rebellion, as both giants aim to secure a foothold in the next-generation AI chip market, making Rebellion's strategic direction highly significant [2]. Group 1: Investment and Valuation - Rebellion is currently undergoing a Series C funding round, with expected investments reaching up to $200 million (280 billion KRW) and a valuation of 1.55 trillion KRW. The company has attracted global investors, including Qatar Investment Authority, LionX Ventures, and Soros Fund Management, leading to a rapid increase in its valuation [2]. - Samsung Securities and Samsung Venture Investment are participating in this funding round, marking their first involvement in any financing round for Rebellion. The investment is reportedly funded indirectly through Samsung Electronics, although specific amounts have not been disclosed [2]. Group 2: Strategic Partnerships and Mergers - Rebellion has maintained a close business relationship with Samsung Electronics, integrating Samsung's HBM and other memory semiconductors into its products and utilizing Samsung's foundry for mass production. For its next-generation chip, Rebel Quad, Rebellion plans to communicate directly with Samsung Electronics [3]. - Rebellion is merging with SK Telecom's subsidiary, Sapion Semiconductor, which will make SK Group the largest shareholder. Sapion is an AI semiconductor company that was spun off from SK Telecom's internal R&D department [3]. Group 3: Technology and Product Development - Rebellion announced the launch of its next-generation AI semiconductor, REBEL-Quad, at the Hot Chips Symposium 2025. The chip utilizes Samsung's 4nm process technology, offers performance comparable to NVIDIA's Blackwell, and features HBM3E memory with a capacity of up to 144GB and a bandwidth of 4.8TB/s [7]. - The REBEL-Quad chip employs a chiplet architecture, making it the first product to implement high-speed chiplet-to-chiplet communication using the UCIe-Advanced standard, which enhances data transfer speed and reliability while reducing power consumption [7]. - Rebellion's proprietary memory processing technology enhances inference speed, enabling more stable and efficient model services in large-scale AI environments. The company also demonstrated the Qwen3 Model 235B MoE at the symposium, attracting significant attention from local AI experts [8]. Group 4: Competitive Landscape - There is a consensus that SK Hynix has a technological edge in HBM over Samsung, which could provide SK Group with an opportunity to promote its HBM technology. The choice of HBM supplier may significantly impact future chip production [5]. - Industry insiders suggest that the collaboration among major Korean companies like Samsung, SK, and KT to support Rebellion is drawing international attention, highlighting the competitive dynamics within the semiconductor ecosystem [5].