Samsung and SK Hynix to announce major memory chip deals with US tech firms during South Korean president's visit
While President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea is in San Francisco, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are planning to announce major supply agreements for memory chips with American tech companies. Kim Yong-beom, a policy adviser, mentioned that these agreements will involve long-term supply deals, strategic investments, and memorandums, but the financial details haven’t been revealed yet. President Lee, who arrived on Friday for an AI summit, met with key figures like Nvidia's Jensen Huang, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Broadcom's Hock Tan. It's anticipated that more than half of the planned 8 gigawatts of AI data-center capacity will be finalized during this trip. Earlier, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emphasized boosting U.S. production.
Key facts
- Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to announce major memory chip supply agreements with leading U.S. tech companies during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's visit to San Francisco.
- Kim Yong-beom, the president's policy adviser, said deals cover long-term memory chip supply, strategic investment partnerships, and MOUs.
- Kim Yong-beom declined to disclose specific values but said 'a lot of very large and meaningful figures' would be announced.
- President Lee arrived in San Francisco on Friday for an AI summit, scheduled to meet with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
- Samsung Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won are among Korean business leaders attending.
- More than half of the government's planned roughly 8 gigawatts of first-phase AI data-center capacity is expected to take shape during the visit.
- U.S. tech companies account for 80% to 90% of underlying orders driving expansion plans.
- Samsung and SK Hynix pledged a combined 800 trillion won ($520 billion) last month for new fabrication plants in southwestern South Korea.
Entities
Institutions
- Samsung Electronics
- SK Hynix
- Nvidia
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Broadcom
- Reuters
- Bloomberg
- SK Group
Locations
- San Francisco
- United States
- South Korea
- Washington
Sources
- Quartz —