Samsung Elec and AMD Sign MoU on AI Memory, Explore Foundry Partnership

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company's store in Seoul, South Korea, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company's store in Seoul, South Korea, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
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Samsung Elec and AMD Sign MoU on AI Memory, Explore Foundry Partnership

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company's store in Seoul, South Korea, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company's store in Seoul, South Korea, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

Samsung Electronics and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their strategic partnership on memory chip supplies for artificial intelligence infrastructure, the companies said on Wednesday.

The agreement will focus on supplying Samsung's next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) for AMD's upcoming Instinct MI455X AI accelerators, as well as optimized DDR5 memory for AMD's sixth-generation EPYC processors, they said in a statement.

The companies will also discuss opportunities for a foundry partnership, under which Samsung could provide contract chip manufacturing services ⁠for next-generation AMD ⁠products.

Under the agreement, Samsung will position itself as a key HBM4 supplier for AMD's next-generation AI GPUs, Reuters reported. The South Korean firm has already been a primary HBM supplier for AMD, supplying HBM3E chips used in AMD's MI350X and MI355X accelerators.

The ⁠agreement comes during the week of Nvidia's annual developer conference GTC, where CEO Jensen Huang on Monday announced a foundry partnership with the Korean firm and praised its HBM4 chips.

The tie-up highlights a broader race among global chipmakers to lock in long-term supply partnerships for advanced memory, as AI-driven demand reshapes the semiconductor industry and tightens supply of HBM chips.

Last month, AMD said it had agreed ⁠to sell ⁠up to $60 billion worth of AI chips to Meta Platforms over five years, a deal that allows the Facebook owner to purchase as much as 10% of the chips. AMD signed a similar deal with OpenAI last year.

Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker, has been seeking to narrow the gap with rivals in the fast-growing HBM segment. It holds about a 22% share of the global HBM market, compared with market leader SK Hynix's 57%, according to Counterpoint.



Microsoft Announces 4,800 Job Cuts as it Revamps Xbox

FILED - 30 January 2026, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Microsoft logo can be seen on the Microsoft Germany headquarters building in Munich. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
FILED - 30 January 2026, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Microsoft logo can be seen on the Microsoft Germany headquarters building in Munich. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
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Microsoft Announces 4,800 Job Cuts as it Revamps Xbox

FILED - 30 January 2026, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Microsoft logo can be seen on the Microsoft Germany headquarters building in Munich. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
FILED - 30 January 2026, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Microsoft logo can be seen on the Microsoft Germany headquarters building in Munich. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa

Microsoft said Monday it was eliminating about 4,800 jobs -- roughly two percent of its global workforce -- in a sweeping restructuring concentrated in its Xbox gaming divisions, AFP reported.

The cuts include the deepest overhaul in Xbox's history, with approximately 3,200 gaming jobs to be shed over the coming fiscal year, four game studios being spun off or sold, and a fifth entering a review process that could lead to closure, the company said.


UN Chief Warns AI is Developing Faster than Rules Can Keep Up

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, March 19, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, March 19, 2026. (AP)
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UN Chief Warns AI is Developing Faster than Rules Can Keep Up

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, March 19, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, March 19, 2026. (AP)

The United Nations secretary general on Monday warned that AI is developing faster than anyone can keep up, ‌urging the ‌need for ‌globally ⁠harmonized rules to reduce ⁠potential risks - especially to children, Reuters said.

"A technology that can reshape ⁠economies, transform the world ‌of ‌work, sway ‌elections and tilt ‌the balance of security is being deployed faster than ‌anyone – including the people building it – ⁠can ⁠keep up," Antonio Guterres told delegates at the first-ever government-level global dialogue on AI in Geneva.


Samsung Appliance Workers to Stage Rally Protesting Chip Workers' Wage Deal

FILED - 10 September 2025, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Samsung logo can be seen at the Samsung stand during the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility). Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
FILED - 10 September 2025, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Samsung logo can be seen at the Samsung stand during the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility). Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
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Samsung Appliance Workers to Stage Rally Protesting Chip Workers' Wage Deal

FILED - 10 September 2025, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Samsung logo can be seen at the Samsung stand during the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility). Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
FILED - 10 September 2025, Bavaria, Munich: FILE PHOTO - The Samsung logo can be seen at the Samsung stand during the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility). Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa

Workers in Samsung Electronics' smartphone, television and home appliance division will stage a rally on July 16, their union said, to protest the big bonuses the company's chip workers have negotiated.

Workers in the company's booming semiconductor division recently won a wage deal led by ⁠another union.

The ⁠non-chip division's workers are expected to receive a bonus of 6 million won ($3,900) in treasury shares for 2026, compared to up to 600 ⁠million won for those at the semiconductor division, Reuters quoted Yonhap News Agency as saying.

Roughly 2,000 or 3,000 workers are expected to participate in the rally near Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, Yonhap reported, citing the largest union for workers in the company's mobiles and ⁠consumer ⁠electronics division said.

The union has about 28,000 members.

Samsung is expected to flag its operating profit surged about 18-fold from a year earlier in the second quarter, when it releases its earnings estimate for the April-June quarter on Tuesday.