AMD CEO Lisa Su Visits Samsung to Secure HBM Supply for AI Accelerators

AMD Seeks Deeper Samsung Ties

AMD chief executive Lisa Su is visiting South Korea to secure additional supply of HBM memory for the company's AI accelerators, according to a report from Chosun.biz. The visit comes less than seven months after AMD and Samsung signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding covering memory supply and collaboration in several fields.

"We are going to talk about our broader partnership," Su told reporters. "We have many partners at Samsung." Before visiting Samsung headquarters, Su and Jack Huynh, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Computing and Graphics Group, attended the AMD Gamer Day event, where they described local memory makers as "important strategic partners."

"Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are key supply-chain partners for AMD," Su said. "AI demand is extremely high, so we are planning our long-term supply chain with our partners. It is important to plan three to five years ahead with our partners."

Samsung Eyes Foundry Expansion

The MOU signed in March remains in effect for three years and covers four areas: supply of next-generation memory products including HBM4 and advanced DDR5; co-development and optimization of memory solutions for AI and high-performance computing systems; exploration of foundry manufacturing opportunities for future AMD platforms; and co-optimization of advanced packaging and related semiconductor technologies.

While Samsung has become a principal supplier of HBM4 for AMD's Instinct MI400-series accelerators, expanding the collaboration beyond memory supply is considerably more complicated. It would require significant effort to design chips for Samsung Foundry's process technologies, along with the risks associated with ramping products at a new contract chipmaker. AMD already uses Samsung Foundry and UMC to produce programmable logic devices, but moving more advanced products to Samsung carries risk.

In its most recent Annual Report, AMD warned: "If we transition the production of some of our products to new manufacturers, we may experience delayed product introductions, lower yields or poorer performance of our products." Samsung, meanwhile, badly needs large customers like AMD, and AMD's dependence on HBM supply gives the Korean company leverage in negotiations.

HBM4 Shipments Underway

AMD has already started shipments of its Instinct MI455 accelerators with 432GB of HBM4 memory onboard, as well as rack-scale Helios AI systems, to interested parties. "We have started shipping our next-generation MI455 and Helios systems," Su told journalists. "These are all systems that use HBM4."

The central question is whether AMD will take the risk of adopting Samsung Foundry for products beyond niche programmable chips in exchange for more high-bandwidth memory and the ability to sell more expensive AI accelerators. Only time will tell.

Sources: Tomshardware