"300 Billion to Be Injected"... National Growth Fund Poised for Direct Equity Investment in 'K-Nvidia' Puriosa AI

The National Growth Fund is strongly considering the unlisted artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company Puriosa AI as its next direct investment target. As the trend of equity investment in innovative startups continues, policy-based financial support for the scaling up of national strategic technology companies is gaining momentum.

Lee Jae-myung, the preliminary presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, is entering Puriosa AI in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with Baek Junho, CEO of Puriosa AI, on April 14, 2025. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers' Association.

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According to the financial sector on April 21, Puriosa AI recently confirmed investment demand of around 400 billion won in Korea and has entered the investment closing stage. Based on this, the National Growth Fund is also giving serious consideration to investing its funds in the company.

The National Growth Fund operates on the premise of attracting private investment before disbursing funds. It decides whether to invest only in companies that have secured a sufficient level of private capital. A financial sector source familiar with the matter stated, "The National Growth Fund and Korea Development Bank are considering directly investing nearly half of the total investment amount after private investment is confirmed." Accordingly, in the financial sector, there is a strong expectation that policy-based financial support in the range of 300 billion won will be provided. However, financial authorities have taken a cautious stance, stating, "The specific investment size will be finalized after a thorough review."

Previously, as part of the 'K-Nvidia' fostering strategy, the National Growth Fund directly invested 250 billion won in Rebellion. That investment utilized the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund and was structured as redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS). RCPS offers both redemption rights, allowing investors to recover their investment under certain conditions, and the right to convert the shares into common stock.

The market expects that after Rebellion, direct follow-up investments in three to four additional companies, particularly in strategic sectors like AI semiconductors, will take place. The order of investment is likely to be determined more by the progress of each company's investment rounds than by differences in technological capabilities. A financial sector source explained, "Rebellion was selected as the first investment not because of its technological superiority, but largely because its investment round was concluded earlier." The generative AI company Upstage is also being mentioned as a strong candidate for subsequent investment.

Puriosa AI has grown steadily as an AI semiconductor company, based on a combination of policy-based financial support and private investment. In 2021, it received a 14 billion won investment from the Ion Philos Fund, which was created under the New Deal Fund initiative. Subsequently, in the Series C round, Korea Development Bank invested approximately 30 billion won. Korea Development Bank has been a major investor since the Series A stage, and, like other investors, has continued to invest through RCPS structures.

Puriosa AI has also been recognized for its technological competitiveness. The company designs and develops neural processing units (NPUs) that can replace graphics processing units (GPUs) for AI model inference. In particular, its high-performance NPU, based on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), is optimized for AI computing architecture and is noted for its strengths in power efficiency and processing speed. The fact that the second-generation product, 'Renegade,' has reached the commercialization stage is also seen as a differentiating factor. President Lee Jaemyung, during his candidacy, visited Puriosa AI and expressed special interest, stating that it is "a company that offers hope to the public in the field of AI."

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