[Alpha Biz= Ellie Kim] Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, has arrived in South Korea for meetings with executives from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, where discussions are expected to focus on securing memory supply and expanding foundry cooperation, including at the 2-nanometer (nm) node.

According to industry sources on April 20, Amon is scheduled to meet with officials from both companies over a two-day visit. Qualcomm, a leading player in application processors (APs) that power smartphones, is also a key customer of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, both major memory manufacturers.

The visit comes as Qualcomm faces tightening memory supply conditions. A global surge in artificial intelligence (AI) investment has driven strong demand for data center components, leading to shortages in memory chips and constraints in securing low-power DRAM (LPDDR) used in AP production. An industry official noted that, similar to recent visits by Jensen Huang of NVIDIA and Lisa Su of AMD to Korea to address memory supply, Amon’s trip is also aimed at strengthening Qualcomm’s position in securing DRAM supply.

 

During the visit, Amon is also expected to discuss potential collaboration on server-grade DRAM with local memory makers. Qualcomm has recently announced AI accelerators for servers, including the AI200 and AI250, signaling its push into the data center market. Cooperation on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and SOCAMM (small outline compression attached memory module) is also likely to be explored.

In addition, the trip is expected to advance foundry cooperation with Samsung Electronics. Qualcomm has been exploring plans to manufacture its next-generation application processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, using Samsung’s 2nm foundry process.

 

 

 

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