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The arms race in the world of artificial intelligence has just reached a new level. AMD's CEO, Lisa Su, flew to Korea to personally negotiate with Samsung. The result of this is... An official partnership that aims to provide AMD access to the fastest memory in the world. Although the press release is filled with optimism... industry observers believe that AMD needs to catch up significantly with Nvidia, which has already secured a lion's share of production.
The Fight for "fuel" for AI: HBM4 Memory
For artificial intelligence to "think" quickly, it needs gigantic data bandwidth. This is where the new HBM4 memory from Samsung comes into play. It's a technology that can transfer data at a rate of 3.3 terabytes per second. For the average person, this is an almost unimaginable figure. It's like sending thousands of 4K quality films in the blink of an eye.
AMD needs these chips for its upcoming graphics processors Instinct MI455X, which will power the supercomputers of the future. The problem is that Nvidia (AMD's main rival) was first in line and has already secured supplies of HBM4 for its own chips. Therefore, AMD had to react quickly to avoid being left empty-handed when the AI market is simply consuming every available amount of memory.
Samsung may start making chips for AMD
The most intriguing aspect of this agreement lies between the lines. As suggested by technology outlets such as the Korean site Chosun Biz, the agreement may extend far beyond just memory chips. Samsung has likely leveraged its strong negotiating position to persuade AMD to... manufacture processors in its factories.
So far, AMD has mainly relied on Taiwanese TSMC, but as the production lines there are booked up for years by other partners, cooperation with Samsung Foundry may be AMD's only chance to meet release deadlines. For Samsung, this is a huge success – after contracts with Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple, acquiring AMD as a customer solidifies their position as a viable alternative to Taiwanese TSMC.
