Meta Platforms (META) were surprisingly buoyant on Tuesday after reports emerged that the social media giant failed to acquire a South Korean chipmaker — a deal that could have given Mark Zuckerberg a leg up in the artificial intelligence arms race.
META stock rose 1.2% on Tuesday to close at $626.31, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains. Still, since hitting an all-time high on February 14, META is down 15%.
According to multiple reports, Meta offered $800 million for FuriosaAI, a Seoul-based chipmaker specializing in high-performance accelerators for large language models (LLMs). The offer was rejected, with FuriosaAI choosing to grow its business the old-fashioned way — independently.
Representatives from both companies declined to comment on the buyout, which only adds credibility to the report.
FuriosaAI is led by June Paik, a tech veteran with stints at Samsung Electronics and Advanced Micro Devices. Under his leadership, the company developed the RNGD processor, designed to be the most efficient accelerator for LLMs.
Paik likely understands he’s sitting on a goldmine, as global tech giants scramble to secure AI chips at any cost.
Rejections of this scale don’t come often for Mark Zuckerberg, who’s used to getting what he wants.
After allegedly lifting the original idea for Facebook from the Winklevoss twins, Zuckerberg scaled the social network into a global powerhouse and went on to acquire Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus VR.
The next piece of the puzzle? AI.
Back in January, Zuckerberg announced that Meta plans to spend up to $65 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone. Acquiring FuriosaAI would have secured a direct pipeline of high-performance chips to power that expansion.
Meta’s “magnificent” ride in 2025
Although META has pulled back from its peak, it was the last of the “Magnificent 7” stocks to turn negative for the year.
It wasn’t until March 18 that Meta slipped into the red for 2025. By contrast, the rest of the Magnificent 7 — Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon.com, Alphabet (GOOGL), and Tesla (TSLA) — have faced more turbulence this year.
Meta’s dip didn’t last long. By March 25, the stock was back in positive territory, up 7% year-to-date.
The rebound comes on the back of a strong fourth quarter, with revenue and earnings both beating expectations. Sales rose 21%, and net income surged by 49%.
On the AI front, Meta’s chatbot now boasts 600 million monthly active users — a figure expected to top 1 billion by year-end.
Zuckerberg is also optimistic about Meta’s future under the Trump administration:
“We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning,” — Mark Zuckerberg, January earnings call
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