AMD CEO Lisa Su (리사 수) is holding a series of meetings with Samsung Electronics executives to discuss expanding foundry cooperation.

Industry sources said Su is visiting Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek campus on March 18 and is expected to tour production lines with key semiconductor executives, including Jun Young-hyun (전영현), head of the DS division and a vice chairman. After the visit, she is expected to meet Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee (이재용) over dinner. It is the first time Su has visited South Korea since becoming CEO in 2014.

The main agenda of the trip is to strengthen an AI chip partnership. Samsung Electronics has continued cooperation by supplying high bandwidth memory (HBM)3E for AMD's AI accelerators since last year. With Samsung Electronics having shipped the mass-produced sixth-generation product HBM4 last month for the first time in the world, some expect the meeting to lead to broader cooperation on next-generation memory as well.

The possibility of foundry orders is also in focus. The industry has raised expectations that contract manufacturing, which had been limited to some volumes such as central processing units (CPUs), will expand to premium product lines such as next-generation AI chips. With AMD recently signing AI chip supply deals with global big tech companies including OpenAI and Meta as it seeks to catch up with Nvidia, the need to use Samsung Electronics' most advanced processes has also grown.

Samsung Electronics is seeking to restore competitiveness after securing foundry orders from companies including Tesla last year. If it also secures AMD as a customer, it is expected to give momentum to rebuilding its foundry business.