Su returns to Korea seven months after first visit in March
AMD executive confirms meeting with Samsung during current visit
Samsung designated as priority HBM4 supplier for AMD's next-gen accelerator
Su says AMD plans to sharply expand AI accelerator supply
Partnership expected to grow beyond memory chips
AMD, widely seen as Nvidia's closest rival in the global AI semiconductor market, is set to meet with Samsung Electronics again — seven months after their last encounter in March. With CEO Lisa Su having recently announced plans to sharply expand the company's AI accelerator supply, attention is turning to whether the two companies' cooperation will extend beyond memory chips into foundry manufacturing.
Jack Huynh, AMD's senior vice president and general manager of the computing and graphics group, confirmed Wednesday, ahead of the Ministry of Science and ICT's Korea AI Semiconductor & Startup Roundtable, that he would be meeting with Samsung Electronics representatives during his current visit to Korea. He made the remark in response to a question asking whether he planned to meet with Samsung Electronics or SK hynix during the trip.
Su, for her part, was asked whether there were any updates on the foundry cooperation opportunity she had mentioned with Samsung Electronics back in March. "I think we'll have time to talk about that this afternoon," she said. Su was scheduled to hold a press conference at the AMD Gamer Day event Wednesday afternoon.
Su made her first visit to Korea in March, when she met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong for a dinner at Seungjiwon, a private guesthouse in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to discuss cooperation in the AI semiconductor sector.
Before the dinner, she met with Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics' device solutions division, and signed an MOU to expand collaboration in next-generation AI memory and computing technology.
AMD announced at the time that it had designated Samsung Electronics as the priority supplier of HBM4 — sixth-generation HBM — for its next-generation AI accelerator, the Instinct MI455X.
The MI455X will be equipped with 432 gigabytes of HBM4, with 18 units of eight-stack HBM4 per accelerator. That is 50 percent more capacity than the 288 gigabytes of HBM4 planned for Nvidia's next-generation AI GPU, Rubin.
Expectations are growing that the two companies' cooperation could extend into foundry services as well. During their meeting in March, Samsung Electronics discussed the possibility of serving as a foundry partner for AMD's next-generation semiconductors. With Su now publicly committing to a significant expansion of AI accelerator supply, Samsung's foundry operations are seen as a likely part of the equation.
According to Reuters, Su told reporters in Taiwan — where she met with TSMC, Foxconn and others before traveling to Korea — that AMD has been ramping up supply through 2026 and plans to significantly increase output in 2027. "We definitely need more supply," she said.
She added that surging demand has led AMD to extend its planning horizon with partners from one to two years out to three to five years, as the company works to systematically build out its supply chain capacity. She also noted that memory supply remains constrained across the market.
"Demand is going to be very high for the next several years," Su said, adding that AMD would need more advanced wafer production capacity to meet it.
With TSMC's advanced process nodes — including its 3-nanometer and 5/4-nanometer lines — running at effectively full capacity due to surging AI demand, there is growing interest in whether Samsung Electronics' foundry operations could secure additional volume as part of a broader supply chain diversification.
Su kicked off her Korea schedule Wednesday morning with a meeting with domestic NPU companies. Attendees included Korean AI fabless firms Rebellions, Furiosa AI, DeepX, Mangoboost, Padu and Upstage.
Later Wednesday afternoon, she was set to attend the AMD Gamer Day event at Seoul Dragon City, where she was expected to engage with the Korean gaming community.
go@heraldcorp.com
young2@heraldcorp.com
