Nvidia is reportedly exploring a potential acquisition or strategic partnership with a competing artificial intelligence chip manufacturer valued at approximately $2.3 billion.

As rivalry in AI inference intensifies, Nvidia Corp. (NVDA, Financials), the leader in AI chips, is reportedly considering a transaction with South Korean startup Rebellions. According to Bloomberg, the companies are in early discussions exploring multiple possibilities, including a technical cooperation, an investment, or a potential acquisition.

Rebellions CEO Sunghyun Park met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang earlier this week at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara. The discussions remain in early stages and may not result in a transaction.

Rebellions develops neural processing units built for AI inference, the phase of artificial intelligence where trained models process fresh data and provide outputs. The company has raised over $850 million from investors including SK Hynix, Samsung Ventures, and Arm Holdings plc (ARM, Financials), with a recent valuation of roughly $2.3 billion. Nvidia’s interest is notable given that Rebellions operates in a market actively seeking to challenge the company’s supremacy.

Nvidia has demonstrated a willingness to engage with smaller inference-chip developers, including a licensing deal with Groq last year. A transaction with Rebellions could offer another avenue for Nvidia to solidify its position as inference takes a bigger slice of total AI spending.