South Korea Brokers $950 Billion Semiconductor and AI Partnerships with US Tech Giants
During a diplomatic visit to the US, South Korea announced semiconductor and AI partnerships worth $950 billion, highlighted by a $200 billion memory and foundry deal between Samsung and Broadcom, and a $750 billion memory supply alliance between SK Group and Nvidia. Additionally, SK Telecom secured priority access to Nvidia's upcoming "Vera Rubin" systems to support massive AI data center expansions. These massive multi-year agreements secure critical memory supply chains and foundry capacity for US tech giants amid the ongoing AI boom. The deals solidify South Korea's dominant position in the global AI hardware ecosystem, particularly in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and advanced packaging. The partnerships also include plans to construct 5GW of AI data centers, deploy approximately 2 million GPUs, and establish a $10 billion "AI factory" by NAVER and Nvidia. However, specific chip models, manufacturing nodes, and delivery timelines for the Samsung-Broadcom deal have not yet been publicly disclosed.
## BACKGROUND
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a specialized 3D-stacked DRAM technology crucial for powering AI accelerators and GPUs due to its high data throughput. As AI workloads demand faster processing, advanced semiconductor packaging and HBM have faced unprecedented demand, leading to supply constraints and intense competition among manufacturers like SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron.