Memory Famine: AMD CEO Heads to Samsung for HBM Chips

On March 11, 2026, it was revealed that AMD CEO Lisa Su is planning an urgent meeting with the chairman of Samsung (scheduled for mid-month). At stake is the supply of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), which is critical for the production of AI accelerators.

The performance of modern AI chips is limited not by processor logic, but by memory bandwidth. Giant models require the instantaneous transfer of terabytes of weights. SK Hynix (the HBM market leader) is tightly contracted by NVIDIA, putting AMD in a vulnerable position. Negotiations with Samsung are an attempt to diversify supply chains and guarantee the physical ability to produce Instinct MI-series accelerators. Without a reliable HBM contract, competing with NVIDIA is impossible, even with a superior chip architecture.

Source: Reuters / Maeil Business