Global artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor leader Nvidia is being pursued by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), whose Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su has visited Korea to forge an “AI alliance” with companies such as Samsung and Naver. With global big tech leaders who dominate the AI landscape, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, visiting Korea in succession, assessments are emerging that Korea is rising as an indispensable core hub in the global AI competition.

According to the business community on the 18th, CEO Su visited Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek Campus that afternoon and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with key executives, including Jeon Young-hyun, head of the Device Solutions (DS) Division and Vice Chairman, to expand cooperation in next-generation AI memory and computing technologies.

Under this agreement, Samsung Electronics has been designated as the priority supplier of high bandwidth memory HBM4 to be installed in AMD’s next-generation accelerator “Instinct MI455X.” HBM4, the sixth-generation product, is also used in the next-generation AI accelerator “Vera Rubin” recently unveiled by Nvidia. AMD and Samsung Electronics are also reported to have discussed comprehensive cooperation measures extending beyond memory supply to include a one-stop offering of advanced foundry and packaging services.

Vice Chairman Jeon stated, “Samsung Electronics and AMD will expand the scope of cooperation through this agreement,” and emphasized, “Samsung Electronics possesses all the capabilities to support AMD’s AI roadmap, including HBM4, cutting-edge foundry, and packaging technologies.” CEO Su responded, “We are very pleased that Samsung Electronics’ advanced memory technology leadership is being combined with AMD’s platform.” Following a dinner meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon on the same day, CEO Su is also scheduled to meet with Roh Tae-moon, head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division and President of Samsung Electronics, on the 19th.

CEO Su’s visit to Korea is intertwined with her fierce leadership rivalry with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who is Taiwanese-American and a distant cousin (fifth-degree relative). Around the same time, Nvidia held its annual developer conference “GTC 2026” in the United States and announced that it would outsource the production of inference AI chips to Samsung. Previously, in October last year, CEO Huang visited Korea and held the so-called “Kkanbu Chicken meeting” with Chairman Lee and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, demonstrating strong cooperation with Korean companies.

Some analysts say that the rush of global AI heavyweights to visit Korea is aimed at securing a stable supply of HBM, a core component for operating AI accelerators. As Korea is capable of everything from semiconductor design to production and is currently benefiting from a memory shortage, the corporate value of Korean semiconductor companies, which hold key supply chains, is expected to continue rising for the time being.

AMD has also established a front for expanding its software ecosystem with companies such as Naver and Upstage. On the morning of the same day, CEO Su visited Naver’s second headquarters “1784” in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, and signed an MOU with CEO Choi Soo-yeon and other key executives for “AI ecosystem expansion and next-generation infrastructure cooperation.” The two companies will build a high-performance GPU computing environment optimized for Naver’s large language model (LLM) “HyperCLOVA X” and advance infrastructure technologies to ensure the stable operation of AI models.

CEO Choi said, “We will continue broadening the potential use of the AMD platform across Naver Cloud and our AI services, and pursue ongoing cooperation for implementing next-generation technology stacks and services.” CEO Su replied, “We look forward to the two companies jointly building an open AI ecosystem that researchers and developers around the world can trust.”

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