Deepx, a South Korean startup developing AI chips, has raised $80 million in a Series C fundraising round, valuing the business at $529 million.

A private equity group from South Korea called SkyLake Equity Partners led the investment round, in which Timefolio Asset Management, an earlier supporter, and AJU IB also participated.

Founded in 2018 by Lokwon Kim, a former engineer at Apple and Cisco, Deepx offers a “All-in-4 AI solution” that consists of its DX-M1 and DX-H1 chips, which are intended for use in AI computing boxes and AI servers, as well as its DX-V1 and DX-V3 processors, which are intended for use in consumer devices.

In addition to assisting the creation and introduction of its upcoming line of large language model (LLM) on-device solutions, Kim stated in comments to TechCrunch that Deepx would utilize the financing to mass produce the four AI chips the business already has.

“Nvidia’s GPU-based solutions are the most cost-effective for large language model services like ChatGPT; the total power consumed by GPUs operating has reached levels exceed the electrical energy of an entire country,” Kim told TechCrunch. “This collaborative operation technology between server-scale AI and on-device large AI models are expected to reduce energy consumption and costs a lot compared to relying solely on data centers.”

Although Kim stated that the company was collaborating with over 100 potential clients and strategic partners, Deepx presently employs about 65 people but does not yet have any clients. Additionally, the company is awaiting approval of over 259 patents in the US, China, and South Korea.