Samsung Electronics is moving beyond supplying high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators to discussions on winning orders for next-generation chips—including the "Drive AGX Thor" chip for autonomous vehicles and the "Groq" language processing unit (LPU)—through its foundry's advanced manufacturing processes.
Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, attended Nvidia's "Korea AI Ecosystem Reception" held at the guest house of the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 8th. After holding a closed-door business meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that evening, Jun told reporters, "We've collaborated with Nvidia for a long time, and I think we had the best conversation (to date)." He added, "We discussed how to handle HBM4 (sixth generation) supply and foundry cooperation in the short term, and in the mid- to long-term we also talked about working together on joint development."
Samsung Electronics particularly emphasized the need to sufficiently supply HBM4, which began this year, as well as SOCAMM, a low-power memory module. The company plans to continue long-term cooperation starting next year with HBM4E (seventh generation) and HBM5 (eighth generation).
On expanding foundry cooperation, Jun said Samsung is forming a deep relationship with Nvidia. "We are discussing producing Nvidia's autonomous driving chips using 4-nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) and 8-nanometer processes," he said, adding, "Groq, another Nvidia accelerator, is also being worked on (with Samsung Foundry), and we are discussing cooperation on the next generation as well."
After acquiring Groq, a fabless company (chip design firm) specializing in LPUs, for $20 billion (about 30.6 trillion won) last December, Nvidia is having its "Groq LPU third generation (LP30)" contract-manufactured through Samsung Foundry's 4-nanometer process. Jun's position is that Samsung Foundry will also handle the LP40. While some had widely predicted that TSMC, which has strengths in advanced packaging processes, would secure the LP40 order, Jun effectively dismissed such rumors.
Meanwhile, regarding a long-term agreement (LTA) with Nvidia on memory supply, Jun said, "Samsung Electronics will work as hard as possible to help Nvidia succeed as its best partner."
