Rebellions said Monday it will acquire SqueezeBits, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) inference optimization. The acquisition transforms Rebellions into an integrated AI infrastructure company that provides software optimization and inference serving in addition to neural processing unit (NPU) hardware. Inference serving refers to the entire process by which an AI model runs as an actual service, directly determining the service's speed, cost, and stability.
As AI services become commercialized, how efficiently AI models operate in real-world environments has become central to competition. SqueezeBits holds optimization and lightweighting technologies that increase the speed of AI models and lower operating costs across various hardware environments. Shortly after its founding, the company has collaborated with global AI hardware firms including Intel and Nvidia.
The two companies have maintained a partnership in inference optimization. In 2024, they jointly developed model lightweighting technology and dedicated software based on Rebellions' NPU. They led the activation of an NPU-based open-source AI ecosystem by hosting various events and workshops related to vLLM, an inference optimization open-source tool, for the domestic developer community.
Through this acquisition, Rebellions plans to maximize the performance of its AI semiconductor software while pursuing ways to provide AI services efficiently. Having created the first integration case between domestic AI semiconductor companies through its 2024 merger with Sapeon Korea, Rebellions intends to build global competitiveness through its strategic combination with SqueezeBits.
"I believe that when technological capabilities and excellent talent come together beyond the boundaries of individual companies, Korea's AI infrastructure ecosystem creates new possibilities," Rebellions CEO Park Sung-hyun said. "By joining forces with SqueezeBits, Rebellions will be reborn as a company spanning hardware, software, and system-level large-scale AI infrastructure, and prove that belief in the global market."
SqueezeBits CEO Kim Hyung-jun said, "SqueezeBits' AI inference optimization technology will expand the Rebellions NPU ecosystem even more broadly. Based on synergy with Rebellions, we will implement a full-stack AI infrastructure where hardware and software are optimized together, and support customers in operating AI services more easily and economically on the Rebellions NPU foundation."
