SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean artificial-intelligence chip makers Rebellions Inc and Sapeon Korea Inc have signed a definitive merger agreement, the privately held companies said on Sunday.

They announced merger negotiations in June. The deal is the latest attempt by South Korean companies to challenge global AI chip leaders such as Nvidia.

Sapeon's shareholders include South Korea's largest telecom company SK Telecom ( SKM ) and the world's second-largest memory chipmaker SK Hynix ( HXSCF ).

Rebellions received a $15 million investment from Wa'ed Ventures, a venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, in July. Rebellions said this brought its total funding to more than $225 million.