Samsung Elec, AMD sign MoU on AI memory, explore foundry partnership

AI demand drives Samsung-AMD memory supply agreement

SEOUL:

Samsung Electronics, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their strategic partnership on memory chip ​supplies for artificial intelligence infrastructure, the companies said on Wednesday.

The ‌agreement will focus on supplying Samsung's next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) for AMD's upcoming Instinct MI455X AI accelerators, as well as optimised DDR5 memory for AMD's sixth-generation EPYC ​processors, they said in a statement.

The companies will also ​discuss opportunities for a foundry partnership, under which Samsung could ⁠provide contract chip manufacturing services for next-generation AMD products.

Under the ​agreement, Samsung will position itself as a key HBM4 supplier for AMD's ​next-generation AI GPUs. The South Korean firm has already been a primary HBM supplier for AMD, supplying HBM3E chips used in AMD's MI350X and MI355X accelerators.

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The ​agreement comes during the week of Nvidia's annual developer conference GTC, where ​CEO Jensen Huang on Monday announced a foundry partnership with the Korean firm ‌and ⁠praised its HBM4 chips.

The tie-up highlights a broader race among global chipmakers to lock in long-term supply partnerships for advanced memory, as AI-driven demand reshapes the semiconductor industry and tightens supply of HBM chips.

Last ​month, AMD said ​it had agreed ⁠to sell up to $60 billion worth of AI chips to Meta Platforms, over five years, a deal ​that allows the Facebook owner to purchase as much ​as 10% ⁠of the chips. AMD signed a similar deal with OpenAI last year.

Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker, has been seeking to narrow the gap ⁠with ​rivals in the fast-growing HBM segment. It ​holds about a 22% share of the global HBM market, compared with market leader ​SK Hynix's, 57%, according to Counterpoint.