Samsung Electronics and AMD sign MoU on AI memory, explore foundry partnership

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.

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.