AMD’s Lisa Su to visit South Korea for talks with Samsung and NAVER on AI chips and HBM supply

AMD has reportedly scheduled a March 18 visit to South Korea — the chipmaker’s chief executive Lisa Su’s first trip to the country since 2014 — to meet Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae‑yong and NAVER CEO Choi Soo‑yeon to discuss cooperation on AI semiconductors and data‑center infrastructure. It has been reported that the meetings will focus on supply-chain collaboration as global demand for AI compute accelerates.

HBM supply and next‑generation AI memory

One key topic is expected to be high‑bandwidth memory (HBM), a critical component in AI accelerators. Samsung recently began mass production of its sixth‑generation HBM4, and that product is reportedly being used in NVIDIA’s next‑generation Vera Rubin platform. With HBM shortages already a bottleneck for AI accelerator makers, strengthened ties between AMD and Korean memory suppliers could be decisive for server and accelerator road maps.

Data‑center chips and “sovereign AI”

The planned NAVER talks are said to cover data‑center chip supply and so‑called “sovereign AI” infrastructure — domestic or regional AI stacks that governments and enterprises can control. NAVER is expanding enterprise offerings around its HyperCLOVA X large language model, and those services will require greater local compute capacity and customized data‑center solutions.

Why now? Analysts note the timing — close to NVIDIA’s GTC 2026 developer conference — highlights AMD’s push to bulk up partnerships with Asian semiconductor leaders as it chases market share in AI chips. It has been reported that AMD has also deepened alliances with companies such as OpenAI and Meta; stronger ties with Korean firms could help the company navigate a fraught global supply chain and evolving export controls while competing in a geopolitically charged AI‑chip race.