Samsung SDS launches NPU-as-a-Service based on FuriosaAI chip

Samsung SDS has launched an NPU-as-a-Service (NPUaaS) offering built on the Renegade (RGND), a domestically developed neural processing unit from AI startup FuriosaAI.

Samsung SDS said Monday it integrated the NPUaaS — based on FuriosaAI's second-generation Renegade NPU — into its Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP).

The Renegade is a Korean-made NPU designed specifically for AI inference. It handles tasks such as generating responses, analyzing documents and classifying images — the stage at which a pre-trained AI model is deployed in a live service — and offers superior power efficiency and cost performance compared with GPUs.

Customers using Samsung SDS's NPUaaS can access NPU servers on a subscription basis, the company said. They do not need to purchase NPU servers outright or build their own data center infrastructure, as the service is available directly through SCP.

Customers can also scale their NPU usage flexibly — choosing one, two, four or eight NPU cards — to match their workload. This makes the service accessible to organizations of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises, depending on the scale of their AI operations.

Samsung SDS said the NPUaaS can be used alongside a range of other SCP products, including high-performance storage, compute and high-speed networking.

The company added that it will offer the NPUaaS within SCP's sovereign cloud environment, allowing public-sector customers subject to strict security regulations to use the service with confidence.

With the launch, Samsung SDS said it has expanded its compute offerings beyond its existing GPUaaS to include NPU-based resources. The company said it expects the move to broaden customers' AI infrastructure choices and serve as a turning point in spreading domestic NPU-based AI infrastructure and advancing sovereign AI adoption.

"This NPUaaS launch goes beyond simply introducing a new cloud product — its significance lies in giving customers the flexibility to use high-performance AI technology on their own terms," said Lee Ho-jun, head of Samsung SDS's cloud services division. "We will continue to diversify our SCP-based product lineup to meet customer needs and lead the cloud AI technology ecosystem."