Investing.com — and will pursue memory-chip supply partnerships with major U.S. technology companies valued at a combined $950 billion, Reuters reported, citing South Korean presidential adviser Kim Yong-beom.
SK Hynix is expected to supply $750 billion of memory chips to American companies, including Nvidia, through long-term agreements.
Samsung will provide another $200 billion of chips to Broadcom Inc (), strengthening its relationship with one of the largest suppliers of custom processors and networking equipment for AI data centres.
The announcement came during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to San Francisco, where he hosted an AI summit involving executives from NVIDIA Corporation (), OpenAI, and Broadcom.
Senior representatives from Samsung, SK Group, Hyundai Motor (KS:005380) and Naver also attended. Lee introduced the San Francisco AI Declaration, aimed at expanding technology cooperation between South Korea and the United States.
The agreements reflect the growing demand for high-bandwidth memory and conventional DRAM used in AI servers. South Korea’s two largest memory producers control a major share of the global market, placing them at the centre of the AI infrastructure buildout.
SK Hynix also announced a separate initiative worth more than $500 billion with Nvidia and other partners. That programme covers next-generation memory development and large AI data centres.
SK Telecom Co Ltd ADR () plans to construct a two-gigawatt facility using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin processors and SK Hynix’s HBM4 memory. The first phase is expected to begin operating in 2027.
Samsung and SK Hynix have also discussed supply agreements with Anthropic as AI developers seek more direct access to memory capacity.
South Korean officials estimate that U.S. companies account for 80% to 90% of the demand supporting the country’s planned semiconductor expansion.
The partnerships deepen the interdependence between American AI developers and South Korean chipmakers at a time when memory shortages are pushing prices higher and encouraging technology companies to secure capacity years in advance.