South Korea's FuriosaAI Raises $620 Million at $2.9 Billion Valuation in AI Chip Boom

South Korea's FuriosaAI Raises $620 Million at $2.9 Billion Valuation in AI Chip Boom

South Korean semiconductor startup FuriosaAI has raised $620 million in a Series D funding round at a $2.9 billion valuation, leading a day in which investors poured more than $1.3 billion into ten startups. The round underlines how fiercely the race for AI computing power is being fought — and how much of the money is now flowing to companies building the chips and infrastructure behind artificial intelligence, rather than just the apps on top of it.

FuriosaAI designs AI accelerator chips meant to compete with the dominant players in data-centre computing. Its raise was followed by San Francisco-based Upwind Security, which closed a $400 million Series C at a $3.8 billion valuation, and Foundry Robotics, which raised $100 million to expand autonomous manufacturing in the United States. Together, FuriosaAI and Upwind account for about 78 per cent of the day's $1.3 billion total, a sign of how concentrated investor appetite has become around AI hardware and cybersecurity.

Smaller rounds told the other half of the story: companies applying AI to specific jobs rather than building the technology itself. Casap raised $56 million to automate financial disputes for banks, Broccoli AI disclosed a $30 million Series B for AI services aimed at plumbing, electrical and HVAC contractors, and Plato secured $16 million to build simulated workplaces where AI agents can be trained and tested before working in real businesses. The split captures the market's current mood — fund the engines, and fund the tools that put them to work.

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