Lisbon strengthens European chip map with Furiosa AI headquarters. João Miguel Mesquita April 9, 2026 19:00 Lisbon will host the European headquarters of South Korean Furiosa AI, a decision that concentrates in Portugal the commercial and support operations for all of Europe, as well as critical research functions in compilers, chip design and PCBs. The choice of the Portuguese capital reflects the growing weight of the national semiconductor ecosystem, specialized talent and favorable conditions for technological investment. The South Korean Furiosa AI, specialized in chips for artificial intelligence applications, announced the opening of its European headquarters in Lisbon, a move that gives Portugal a central role in the company's continental strategy. The new office will concentrate commercial operations and technical support for all of Europe, also accumulating research and development functions in compilers, chip design and PCBs. Founded in 2017 in South Korea, the company develops highly energy-efficient chips oriented for artificial intelligence workloads, positioning itself as an alternative to traditional GPUs. The offering includes servers and accelerator cards designed for conventional data centers, with a particular focus on reducing infrastructure costs. One of Furiosa AI's main technological arguments lies in the RNGD chip, designed to operate within the limits of air-cooled data centers. This approach allows organizations to adopt AI solutions in older data centers without needing adaptation works, avoiding additional investments in power and cooling. For technology purchasing decision-makers, this point could prove decisive in modernization projects for already installed infrastructure. The company's international expansion is also supported by recent agreements with two South Korean technology groups. Samsung SDS advanced with a new cloud AI computing service supported by the RNGD chip. In parallel, LG AI Research presented an integrated solution that combines the same processor with the EXAONE 4.0 model and the ixi-Enterprise platform, in a server prepared for on-premise operation without internet connection. These integrations reinforce Furiosa AI's positioning in sovereign AI scenarios and large-scale enterprise implementations. The choice of Lisbon resulted from an evaluation of several European cities. Among the decisive factors were the maturity of the Portuguese ecosystem in chip design, the availability of compiler specialists and proximity to academic institutions and research centers with international recognition. To these elements add the quality of the technical talent market and a framework favorable to foreign investment. As European headquarters, the Lisbon office will have a cross-cutting mandate within the organization. Beyond commercial management of the European market and support for customers and partners, it will assume R&D activities in two sensitive areas for optimization of AI systems: compilers and chip and electronic board design. The combination between business functions and technological development gives the Portuguese operation a singular weight in the company's global structure. Leadership will be under Nuno Lopes, who assumes the direction of Furiosa AI Europe while simultaneously maintaining his activity as professor and researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico. The executive brings accumulated experience at Apple and Microsoft Research, with specialization in the area of compilers, a central competence for the efficiency of software running on AI hardware. The opening of the European headquarters also fits within the company's strategy to respond to demand for technological alternatives closer to the regulatory and operational demands of the European market. In a context of growing European investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, the presence in Lisbon brings Furiosa AI closer to companies, public entities and research projects seeking solutions with greater operational control and local integration. The company plans to reinforce investment in research and development in Portugal, betting on talent training, partnerships with universities and research centers, and collaboration with startups and AI solution integrators. For the national ecosystem, the arrival of the European headquarters represents another sign of maturity of the Portuguese market in semiconductor and advanced computing areas. Topics.

South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has begun mass production of its second-generation Renegade chip for AI inference, producing approximately 4,000 units this year. The chip uses a 5-nanometre TSMC process with 40 billion transistors, pairs SK Hynix HBM3 memory, and reportedly supports up to 7.4 times more concurrent users than Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000 at equivalent power consumption of around 180 watts. Development began in 2022, with early samples produced in 2024. The chip uses standard PCIe 5.0 interfaces rather than custom interconnects, targeting cost-sensitive inference workloads over peak performance. Expected pricing near $10,000 would undercut widely reported Nvidia H100 pricing. FuriosaAI is collaborating with Samsung SDS as part of South Korea's "K-Moonshot" national AI initiative.