AMD’s Lisa Su calls South Korea a key AI chip partner during Seoul visit

AMD chief Lisa Su called South Korea a key partner for AI chips during an October 7 visit to Seoul, where she spoke at AMD Gamer Day and met leaders of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Her remarks put attention on the memory supply behind AMD’s AI accelerators, but the reports of the visit did not establish a new supply or manufacturing agreement.

Speaking to reporters, Su said AMD continued to explore opportunities with Samsung and SK hynix as AI activity expands, according to Yonhap News Agency. She described semiconductors as a ‘team sport’ requiring collaboration across memory and foundry work. SBS News reported that Su met Samsung’s semiconductor chief Jun Young-hyun and SK hynix chief Kwak Noh-jung during the visit.

What Su said about longer-term cooperation

Edaily reported that Su framed AMD’s Korean partnerships in terms of three to five years or more, rather than short-term arrangements. She linked the need for close communication with suppliers to the complexity of semiconductor supply chains. That describes AMD’s approach to relationships; it is not an announced timetable for a new product or contract.

Su also identified room to cooperate beyond memory, including system components, other semiconductors and packaging, Edaily reported. She cited growing demand across AI, gaming and consumer products as a reason for working with both large Korean chipmakers. The range of fields she named shows where discussions could extend, while leaving the terms and scale of any future work open.

Samsung’s existing memory supply to AMD

The clearest established commercial link is in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, used alongside AI processors. Yonhap reported that Samsung has supplied HBM3E and HBM4 for AMD’s latest AI accelerators. It also said AMD had designated Samsung a preferred supplier of HBM4 for its next-generation Instinct MI455X accelerator. SBS likewise reported the supply relationship, although it described Samsung’s designation for the MI455X as ‘primary’ rather than ‘preferred’.

That distinction matters when describing what the Seoul visit changed. The reports document an existing memory relationship and Su’s interest in expanding cooperation; they do not identify a new order, shipment volume, price or delivery schedule from October 7. Yonhap said shortages across a range of memory products were already putting pressure on the electronics industry and complicating the expansion of AI infrastructure and services. Against that backdrop, supplier relationships are consequential even without a newly disclosed agreement.

The meetings also follow earlier contact. SBS reported that Su visited South Korea in March, toured Samsung’s Pyeongtaek production lines with company executives and later met Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Her return roughly seven months later gives context to her comments about sustained cooperation, but the visit itself does not prove that a fresh manufacturing arrangement has been reached.

What remains open after the Seoul meetings

Both Yonhap and SBS raised possible cooperation between AMD and Samsung in foundry services, meaning contract manufacturing of chips. They presented it as a possibility rather than a signed contract. Su’s comments on the wider scope for cooperation likewise did not specify a foundry order, a production commitment or a change in the availability of AMD accelerators.

SBS located Su’s meeting with Jun at Samsung’s Seocho building and reported that she met Kwak that afternoon. It described the Su-Kwak meeting as reportedly their first in South Korea. The accounts establish that the discussions took place, while the public reporting leaves their commercial outcome unresolved. For customers and suppliers tracking AI hardware capacity, the next concrete development would be a disclosed agreement or production detail, neither of which appeared in the retained accounts of the visit.