Strategic Moves in the AI Chip Market
Lisa Su, CEO of U.S. semiconductor company AMD, made her first visit to South Korea on the 18th, engaging in meetings with top executives from Samsung Electronics and Naver. This trip is seen as a strategic effort to secure key components like memory semiconductors amid growing competition in AI infrastructure and to expand sales channels for AMD’s AI chips. Industry observers believe that her visit, coinciding with Nvidia’s annual flagship event GTC 2026, reflects a broader effort to form a coalition against Nvidia.
Leadership and Transformation at AMD
Su, a Taiwanese-American immigrant, joined AMD in 2012 during a challenging period for the company, which was dealing with product failures, restructuring, and significant debt. Two years later, she became the first female CEO of a Silicon Valley semiconductor firm. Under her leadership, AMD turned profitable and established a competitive edge against Intel and Nvidia through a long-term focus on data center and high-performance CPUs.
Expanding Collaboration with Samsung
During her visit, Su met Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, at the company’s Pyeongtaek campus and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand collaboration in next-generation AI memory and computing technologies. Through this agreement, AMD designated Samsung as the priority supplier for HBM4 products to be used in its next-gen AI chip Instinct MI455X. Even if SK Hynix begins mass-producing HBM4, AMD pledged to prioritize Samsung’s supply. This marks the first time AMD has officially named Samsung as a priority HBM supplier.
Industry insiders note that Samsung’s HBM status has clearly shifted. AMD has used Samsung’s DRAM in its GPUs since 2007, making them long-term partners. While SK Hynix’s HBM supply was almost entirely absorbed by Nvidia, AMD had relied solely on Samsung for its AI chips without formal priority designation. However, as Samsung’s HBM4 passed Nvidia’s quality tests and began mass production ahead of SK Hynix, Su personally solidified Samsung’s priority status and aggressively secured supply.
Su also discussed continued collaboration with Samsung on 6th-gen server CPUs, DRAM for AI data centers, and foundry partnerships for AMD’s product manufacturing.
Strengthening Ties with Naver
Su later met Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon at the company’s 1784 complex in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and signed an MOU to expand the AI ecosystem and collaborate on next-gen infrastructure. While requesting memory supply from Samsung, she pitched AI chips to Naver. Under the agreement, AMD will supply high-performance GPUs optimized for Naver’s large language models (LLMs) and strengthen technical cooperation for computing environments.
This aligns with AMD’s recent push to collaborate with tech firms on data center construction and boost its AI chip market share. Though Nvidia dominates 80–90% of the AI chip market, AMD aims to narrow the gap by securing supply deals with diverse IT companies, including Naver. Earlier this month, AMD struck a landmark deal with Meta to supply 5 GW (gigawatts) of AI chips over five years. However, no specific volume was agreed upon with Naver. Su is also scheduled to meet AI startup Upstage on the 19th.
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