Samsung, Nvidia in talks to line up next-generation foundry chips

Leading electronics giant Samsung and the world's most popular AI chip manufacturer, Nvidia, have been in talks to line up next-generation chip foundry together.

Samsung Electronics' co-CEO and head of its chip division, ‌Jun Young-hyun, said on Monday he discussed cooperation in next-generation foundry chips with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a meeting in Seoul.

Jun said Samsung and Nvidia are currently collaborating on autonomous driving chips and Groq AI accelerator chips and also discussed cooperation on future generations of semiconductor products.

He added that the two companies had ‌extensive discussions on long-term cooperation, including in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) 4E and HBM5 chips.

In March, Huang unveiled Nvidia's new AI inference processor based on technology from chip startup Groq, adding that Samsung would manufacture Groq's LP30 chips, which are scheduled to be shipped in the second half of this year.

Samsung is currently manufacturing chips related to the AI startup Groq for Nvidia using its foundry business, a relationship that has become increasingly important as Samsung seeks to strengthen its position against foundry leader TSMC.

The latest moves come as one of the world's leading tech giants, Samsung, has been working to revive its foundry business and gain a larger share of AI-related semiconductor manufacturing.

The electronics manufacturer company believes closer ties with Nvidia—the dominant supplier of AI accelerators—could help Samsung win additional advanced chip orders and strengthen demand for its next-generation memory products.

Samsung and Nvidia's latest meeting comes during Huang's visit to South Korea, where he has been meeting with major Korean technology companies to discuss AI, semiconductor, and robotics opportunities.

Earlier this year, Huang also highlighted Samsung's role in manufacturing Nvidia-related AI chips, which investors viewed as a positive signal for Samsung's foundry competitiveness.