AMD chair and chief executive Lisa Su plans to meet South Korean AI companies in Seoul on 8 October, seven months after her previous visit in March, Chosun Ilbo reported on 30 September.
Key points
- Rebellions, DeepX and Mobilint are expected to attend the planned 8 October meeting.
- AMD and South Korea’s science ministry signed a July memorandum covering computing infrastructure that connects AMD processors with Korean-made NPUs.
- Meetings with Samsung Electronics executives are being coordinated after Su’s March visit.
Rebellions and DeepX among expected attendees
Executives from neural processing unit companies Rebellions, DeepX and Mobilint are expected at the Seoul meeting, Chosun Ilbo reported. Discussions with AI startup Upstage are also being coordinated. The gathering would bring AMD together with companies making the Korean processors that feature in its existing agreement with the science ministry.
The 8 October meeting was under consideration as of 30 September, Pulse reported. Su is also expected to meet Bae Kyung-hoon, South Korea’s deputy prime minister and minister of Science and ICT, before or after the company talks. Meetings with executives at major Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, were being coordinated.
The Elec reported on 1 October that dates and locations for Su’s meetings with NPU companies had not been finalised. An executive at a company identified as a potential participant said it intended to attend once arrangements were settled. That timetable leaves the proposed 8 October gathering subject to the meeting arrangements still being made.
July memorandum links AMD processors and Korean NPUs
AMD and South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT signed a memorandum of understanding in July to cooperate on AI semiconductors, Pulse reported. The two sides agreed to pursue the development and demonstration of computing infrastructure that connects AMD central processing units and graphics processing units with Korean-made NPUs.
The July agreement also covers an AI research hub in South Korea and training for AI specialists. Those commitments set out areas for cooperation rather than a processor purchase: the work described in the memorandum centres on building and demonstrating infrastructure. Su’s planned talks with NPU makers concern companies whose chips could be used alongside AMD’s processors under that approach.
AMD’s position differs across the two processor markets. Its share of the server CPU market is in the 30% range, behind market leader Intel, while its share of server GPUs is in single digits, The Elec reported. Nvidia dominates the GPU market through its CUDA software ecosystem, according to the same report.
AMD is pursuing an open computing approach in which its GPUs operate alongside NPUs, The Elec reported. That places the Korean chipmakers within AMD’s effort to distinguish its GPU offering from Nvidia’s. The July memorandum addresses development and demonstration, making the proposed meetings a continuation of the cooperation set out with the ministry.
Samsung talks follow Su’s March visit
Su met Samsung Electronics executive chairman Lee Jae-yong during her March trip and separately held talks with Jun Young-hyun, vice-chairman and head of Samsung’s device solutions division, Pulse reported. Samsung is among the Korean companies whose executives could meet her on this visit.
AMD and Samsung signed a separate memorandum during Su’s March visit to Samsung’s Pyeongtaek campus, covering AI memory and computing technologies, SammyGuru reported. That agreement concerns cooperation between the two companies. The July memorandum, by contrast, is with the science ministry and covers infrastructure linking AMD processors to Korean-made NPUs.
Samsung is reportedly a priority supplier of HBM4 memory for AMD’s AI accelerators, according to SammyGuru. Its report said AMD’s Helios system uses an MI455X accelerator with HBM4 under a Samsung supply agreement. A Helios rack contains 72 Instinct GPUs and 18 sixth-generation EPYC CPUs.
The March memorandum did not include HBM4 supply volumes, prices or delivery schedules, SammyGuru reported. Su’s visit could give AMD and Samsung an opportunity to discuss memory supply in more detail.
