AMD’s Lisa Su Meets Samsung’s Jun Young-hyun; ‘Broad Partnership’ in Foundry Cooperation Beyond HBM Draws Attention
AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su met with Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division and a vice chairman, to discuss ways to cooperate in the field of AI semiconductors. The meeting came about seven months after the two companies formalized cooperation in AI semiconductors, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), last March. In particular, Su emphasized a ‘broad partnership’ with Samsung Electronics when asked whether there had been progress in foundry (contract chip manufacturing) cooperation, prompting interpretations that the two companies’ collaboration could expand beyond memory to include foundry services.
According to industry sources on the 7th, Su met that afternoon with Jun and other senior Samsung Electronics executives at the company’s Seocho headquarters in Seocho-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The meeting lasted about three hours in total, including dinner.
After the meeting, Su was asked by reporters, ‘What did you discuss today?’ She replied, ‘We had very good discussions,’ adding, ‘Samsung is a great partner for us, and we always have good strategic discussions.’
Asked whether there had been progress in foundry, she replied, ‘Overall, we have a very broad partnership.’ While she did not disclose specific details of the cooperation, this was interpreted as meaning that Samsung Electronics and AMD are leaving open the possibility of working together across a range of semiconductor fields, including foundry as well as memory.
Asked whether AMD would also work with Samsung Electronics in physical AI, she said, ‘We will work together in a great many areas.’ Asked, ‘Do you like Samsung?’ she also replied, ‘Of course.’
Samsung Electronics and AMD have recently been rapidly expanding the scope of their cooperation in AI semiconductors. During her visit to Korea last March, Su visited Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek campus with key Samsung semiconductor executives, including Jun, and toured the production lines. The two companies later signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand cooperation in next-generation AI memory and computing technologies. AMD designated Samsung Electronics as the preferred supplier of HBM4 (sixth-generation HBM) for its next-generation AI accelerator, the AMD Instinct MI455X GPU.
During her visit to Korea last March, Su is also reported to have met Han Jinman, head of Samsung Electronics’ Foundry Business, to discuss potential cooperation, including next-generation contract chip manufacturing.
soup@fnnews.com Lim Soo-bin Reporter
