AMD Explores Strategic Shift with Samsung Foundry Talks

AMD's Lisa Su meets Samsung to expand foundry partnership for AI accelerators, aiming to reduce reliance on TSMC amid high global demand and competitive pressure from Nvidia.

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su’s recent trip to South Korea, marking her first visit to Samsung’s headquarters since 2014, signals a strategic move beyond mere corporate diplomacy. The high-level meetings in Pyeongtaek with Samsung’s chip division head Jun Young-hyun and foundry chief Han Jin-man centered on a clear objective: diversifying AMD’s manufacturing base to reduce its current reliance on TSMC as a sole production partner.

Broadening the Partnership Beyond Memory

While AMD’s existing relationship with Samsung has been focused on memory chips—including HBM3E supply since 2025 and the newer HBM4 generation since February 2026—the latest discussions aim to significantly expand this collaboration. The goal is to engage Samsung Foundry as a potential contract manufacturer for AMD’s future artificial intelligence accelerators.

This initiative is driven by the persistently high global demand for high-performance AI chips, which continues to strain available manufacturing capacity. Securing Samsung as a second-source foundry partner would grant AMD greater flexibility and resilience in its long-term capacity planning. In a related development during her Seoul visit, Dr. Su also held talks with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon regarding potential cooperation in AI data center solutions.

Competitive Landscape and Shareholder Activity

AMD continues to navigate a competitive market where Nvidia maintains strong pressure. At its recent GTC conference, Nvidia unveiled its Vera CPU, which the company claims offers significant efficiency advantages over existing server solutions. In response, AMD is sharpening its focus on its EPYC processors for AI inference workloads. Furthermore, the company has committed $250 million to a partnership with Nutanix to develop an agentic AI platform for enterprise clients.

On the investor front, confidence is demonstrated by Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, which recently established a new position in AMD valued at approximately $3.09 billion. Institutional investors collectively hold about 71 percent of the company’s shares. This institutional vote of confidence coincides with insider selling activity: regulatory filings show that over the past 90 days, CEO Lisa Su sold 85,000 shares for roughly $16.9 million, while company executives as a group disposed of more than 239,000 shares.

Market analysts currently maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating on AMD stock. The average price target among researchers stands at $290.53, a figure notably higher than the current trading price, which has declined by approximately 11 percent since the start of the year.