Lisa Su, chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s No. 2 supplier of AI accelerators behind Nvidia, is set to visit South Korea later this month to explore deeper cooperation with major technology companies including Samsung Electronics and Naver.
Industry officials said March 11 that Su is expected to visit South Korea on March 18. The trip will mark her first visit to the country since she became CEO in 2014.
During the trip, Su is expected to meet with Naver Chief Executive Choi Soo-yeon to discuss potential collaboration in artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter. A meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is also considered likely.
AMD has recently strengthened its position in the rapidly expanding AI hardware market by securing major technology companies such as OpenAI and Meta Platforms as customers, positioning itself to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI accelerators.
Industry observers expect Su may seek expanded supplies of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, from Samsung during a meeting with Lee, as demand for advanced AI chips surges.
Last month Samsung began mass shipments of its sixth-generation HBM product, known as HBM4, becoming the first company to commercialize the technology. The memory uses a leading-edge 1c DRAM process, which industry analysts say improves both production yield and performance.
Samsung already supplies HBM to Nvidia and has also been providing earlier generations of the memory to AMD.
If AMD adopts HBM4 for its next-generation AI accelerators, analysts say Samsung is likely to remain a key supplier given the companies’ long-standing partnership.
Su is also expected to discuss cooperation with Naver on AI data center initiatives. The South Korean internet company has been expanding investments in data centers and developing so-called sovereign AI systems that rely on domestically controlled infrastructure and technology.
Such projects could create opportunities for deeper collaboration with AMD on advanced semiconductor supplies for AI computing systems.
