S Korean AI startup DeepX plans IPO, eyes US listing

South Korean AI chip startup DeepX is preparing to list in South Korea and is open to a future US listing, CEO Lokwon Kim said.

The company is finalizing a funding round and plans to appoint banks for its IPO.

DeepX makes chips that run AI tasks on devices rather than in data centers and counts Hyundai Motor and Baidu among its partners.

Kim said the funding round should close in the first half of this year.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

DeepX raised US$80.5 million in a series C round led by SkyLake Equity Partners, with BNW Investments, AJU IB, and existing backer TimeFolio Asset Management also participating 1. SkyLake Equity Partners was founded by DaeJe Chin, a former South Korean communications minister and former Samsung Electronics executive, described in the release as “Mr. Semiconductor” 1.
Early sales activity has started. DeepX has secured 27 purchase orders from customers in eight countries, CEO Lokwon Kim said 2.
Expansion work includes pre-production validation with more than 100 global companies. The company is also building a production ecosystem through partnerships with more than 20 independent chip design houses in the US, South Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan 1.

DeepX says its semiconductors target edge computing that runs AI tasks on devices rather than in data centers. On that basis, the products fall outside US export restrictions on AI chips shipped to China, according to the company’s description 3.
This opens room for non-US chip companies to serve China’s market for AI-enabled edge devices such as drones and robots.
Manufacturing timing remains a risk. A schedule change for Tesla’s next-generation AI processor at Samsung Electronics’ foundry business reportedly pushed DeepX’s next AI accelerator chip mass-production plans back by about six months 4.