[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] AMD CEO Lisa Su, on her first visit to South Korea, met with top executives from Samsung Electronics and Naver on March 18, pledging a wide-ranging semiconductor alliance spanning memory procurement, foundry partnerships, AI chip supply, and joint development of next-generation technologies.

Under the collaboration, Samsung Electronics will serve as a priority supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AMD’s latest AI chips, while Naver will deploy the resulting chips to power its advanced AI models and services. Industry observers view the move as part of AMD’s broader strategy to build an independent ecosystem and reduce reliance on Nvidia.

Earlier in the day, Su visited Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi Province, where she met with Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun of the Device Solutions (DS) Division and President Han Jin-man, head of the Foundry Business, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on expanding cooperation in next-generation AI memory and computing technologies.

As part of the agreement, Samsung Electronics was selected as a priority supplier of HBM4 for AMD’s upcoming AI chip, the “Instinct MI455,” ahead of competitors SK hynix and Micron.

The Instinct MI455 is designed to compete with Nvidia’s next-generation AI chips, offering up to a tenfold improvement in inference performance over its predecessor. As competition in AI semiconductors increasingly centers on securing high-performance HBM, AMD’s decision underscores Samsung’s position as a leading provider of advanced memory solutions. Samsung recently began mass production of HBM4 using its advanced 1c DRAM and 4nm base die process technologies.

The two companies also agreed to expand cooperation across the semiconductor value chain, including foundry services and joint research on next-generation chips. Analysts note that AMD, which has primarily relied on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for chip production, is seeking additional manufacturing partners amid capacity constraints at advanced nodes.

Samsung, the world’s second-largest foundry player, has been gaining traction as an alternative manufacturing partner for major tech firms, recently securing production of next-generation processors such as the Grok 3 language processing unit (LPU).

Su also attended a dinner meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon in Seoul, where discussions continued on foundry collaboration and broader strategic cooperation.

Beyond memory and manufacturing, the two companies plan to deepen collaboration in next-generation technologies. AMD’s architecture has already been applied to Samsung’s Exynos mobile application processors, and the companies are jointly developing processing-in-memory (PIM) technologies, with further investment expected to accelerate related research.

The partnership is widely seen as a significant step toward reshaping the global AI semiconductor landscape.

 

 

 

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