Rebellions, a Korean startup that makes artificial intelligence (AI) chips, announced on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco has invested 20 billion won ($14.4 million) in the firm. This investment is anticipated to aid Rebellions in breaking into the Middle Eastern AI chip market.

According to the business, this is Aramco’s first investment in a Korean startup; the $500 million investment was made through Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of the company.

In order to acquire traction in the Middle East and achieve its objective of developing autonomous artificial intelligence infrastructure and services, Rebellions announced that it will open a local branch in Saudi Arabia.

Rebellions’ CEO, Park Sung-hyun, stated, “We expect Aramco’s investment will play a significant role in helping Rebellions expand its presence in the global market.”

Rebellions is a prominent Korean firm focused on AI chips, founded in 2022. It created an AI system-on-a-chip with capabilities for massive language models last year.

In an effort to improve its market position, the firm announced last month that it would merge with Sapeon Korea, a well-known startup that makes AI chips. By the end of the year, it hopes to have an integrated company.