AMD and Samsung this week signed a rather unprecedented memorandum of understanding (MOU) that involves the strategic supply of memory for AMD's next-generation EPYC and Instinct MI455X products, as well as discussions of a potential foundry partnership. The MOU aims to ensure that AMD gets enough memory for its next-generation CPU and AI accelerator products throughout their life span, whereas Samsung will get a chance to serve as a foundry for a leading supplier of CPUs, AI GPUs, and other products.

Samsung has been the primary supplier of HBM3E for AMD's Instinct MI350X and MI355X AI accelerators, so it is not surprising that the core of the new agreement is Samsung’s role as a primary supplier of HBM4 memory for AMD's upcoming Instinct MI455X accelerator. As demand for all types of memory in general and HBM4 in particular exceeds supply, AMD must ensure that its next-generation MI455X accelerator (and possibly other Instinct MI400-series products) gets enough memory.

AMD's Instinct MI455X is projected to use 12 HBM4 12-Hi memory stacks for a total of 432 GB. Given such demands, it makes great sense for AMD to sign a strategic memory supply deal, though for now the two companies limited themselves to the MOU. Meanwhile, Samsung said that its HBM4 memory stacks are based on memory devices produced using its 1c (6^th Generation 10nm-class) process technology and use a base die made on a 4nm-class logic process, which enables them to achieve a rather unprecedented data transfer rate of 13 GT/s (thus provide up to 3.3 TB/s of bandwidth per stack), which is well above JEDEC's recommended 8 GT/s for HBM4. Yet, memory speeds supported by Instinct MI455X are considerably slower.

In addition to HBM4, the MOU between the two companies also includes DDR5 supply for AMD's 6^th Generation EPYC processors codenamed 'Venice,' as well as AMD's Helios rack-scale systems for AI data centers that rely on EPYC 'Venice' and Instinct MI455X. Again, the move aims to ensure a steady memory supply for next-generation AI systems running AMD's CPUs and AI accelerators to ensure a competitive position against Nvidia's Rubin-powered machines.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the announcement is that the MOU can open the door for a potential foundry relationship, under which Samsung could manufacture future AMD products. While no specific nodes or chips were disclosed, this signals a willingness to expand cooperation into logic production alongside memory supply. To put this into context, AMD has been drifting away from GlobalFoundries since late 2018, and by now virtually all of its advanced products are made at TSMC. Shifting certain advanced production to Samsung is costly, though if this ensures that the South Korean company will provide much-needed memory to support AMD's AI efforts, then it looks like the developer of EPYC CPUs and Instinct accelerators may be willing to adopt a dual-source foundry strategy and make at least some of its products at Samsung Foundry.

"Samsung and AMD share a commitment to advancing AI computing, and this agreement reflects the growing scope of our collaboration," said Young Hyun Jun, Vice Chairman & CEO of Samsung Electronics. "From industry-leading HBM4 and next-generation memory architectures to cutting-edge foundry and advanced packaging, Samsung is uniquely positioned to deliver unrivaled turnkey capabilities that support AMD’s evolving AI roadmap."

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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.