AMD CEO Meets Samsung, SK hynix Chiefs in Seoul

Meetings Focus on Deepening AI Semiconductor Collaboration and HBM4 Supply Talks, Raising Prospect of Foundry Cooperation with Samsung and New HBM Partnerships with SK hynix

AMD Chair and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lisa Su, who is visiting Korea, meets with the semiconductor heads of Samsung and SK to discuss measures to strengthen AI cooperation.

According to the industry on Oct. 7, Chair Su is meeting with key executives, including Jun Young-hyun, Vice Chairman, Representative Director and Head of the Device Solutions (DS) Division of Samsung Electronics, at the Samsung Electronics Seocho Office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of this day.

Chair Su also visited Korea in March of this year and toured the production lines at the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus with Vice Chairman Jun, President and Head of the Foundry Business Han Jin-man, and others. Afterwards, she had a dinner with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon, located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

With this meeting between Vice Chairman Jun and Chair Su taking place again in about 7 months, Samsung Electronics and AMD are expected to strengthen AI semiconductor cooperation, including high bandwidth memory (HBM).

Samsung Electronics has been continuing a steady partnership in the memory sector by supplying HBM 3E (5th generation) and HBM 4 (6th generation) for AMD’s latest AI accelerators.

Previously, AMD designated Samsung Electronics as the preferred supplier of HBM 4 to be mounted on its next-generation AI accelerator, ‘Instinct MI455X’.

As AMD has mentioned the need to expand the volume of AI accelerators multiple times, the possibility of foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) cooperation utilizing Samsung Electronics’ most advanced processes is also being raised.

If Samsung Electronics’ foundry secures AMD as a client, it is expected to accelerate its turnaround to a surplus.

It is known that Chair Su also met with Kwak Noh-jung, President and Representative Director of SK Hynix, on the afternoon of this day. It is reported that this is the first time the two have met in Korea.

Amid a surge in demand for AI accelerators, attention is being paid to whether AMD and SK Hynix will build a new partnership in the high-performance memory sector, including HBM 4.

Meanwhile, on the morning of this day, the first day of her visit to Korea, Chair Su held a roundtable with the Ministry of Science and ICT and domestic AI semiconductor companies at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and attended ‘AMD Gamer Day’ held at Dragon City in Yongsan-gu, Seoul at 2:00 PM.

At the Gamer Day event, Chair Su stated, “AI is driving computing performance to the highest level, but gaming is also a very important core area of computing and similarly requires very high performance,” adding, “It is our goal to support all consumers and corporate users who need high-performance computing.”