Samsung SDS on July 16 rolled out what it calls Korea's first NPU-as-a-Service, a cloud offering built around FuriosaAI's RNGD chip. The service is aimed squarely at government AI workloads — a market that's been hungry for domestic alternatives to foreign GPU-based cloud services.
What NPU-as-a-Service means
NPU stands for neural processing unit, a chip designed specifically to accelerate AI inference tasks. Unlike general-purpose GPUs, NPUs can deliver higher efficiency for certain machine-learning models. Samsung SDS is packaging FuriosaAI's RNGD silicon as a pay-as-you-go cloud service, letting government agencies tap into dedicated AI hardware without buying and maintaining the physical infrastructure themselves.
The company says the service is live now. It didn't disclose pricing or initial customers, but the focus on the public sector suggests a push for sovereign AI capabilities — keeping sensitive data and workloads on domestic hardware.
Why the government angle matters
South Korea's government has been investing heavily in homegrown AI chips and cloud services, partly to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. By offering an NPU cloud tailored to government needs, Samsung SDS positions itself as a local alternative to AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud for AI inference. The RNGD chip from FuriosaAI, a Korean startup, adds a layer of national tech independence.
The service could handle tasks like real-time image recognition, natural language processing for public services, or AI-driven data analysis — all within a controlled environment. Samsung SDS didn't specify which agencies are first in line, but the launch timing aligns with broader government digital transformation plans.
The FuriosaAI RNGD chip
FuriosaAI's RNGD is a second-generation NPU designed for high-throughput inference. The company previously released its first chip, Warboy, but the RNGD is built for larger-scale deployments. Samsung SDS is the first cloud provider to offer it as a service in Korea.
The chip's architecture focuses on low latency and power efficiency, which matters for government workloads that may run 24/7. Samsung SDS will handle the infrastructure, security, and scaling — the government customer just pays for the compute time.
For now, the service is available to government agencies. Samsung SDS hasn't announced a timeline for expanding to enterprise or general commercial use.
