Samsung Electronics announced on Saturday that it has entered into a partnership with U.S. chip designer Broadcom Inc. to expand collaboration across memory chips, contract manufacturing, and advanced packaging. The agreement, projected to exceed $200 billion in value by 2030, aims to enhance Samsung’s role in producing specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
Broadcom, known for its expertise in custom AI chip design, will secure long-term production commitments from Samsung’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities. This move positions Samsung to increase utilization of its factories and strengthen its competitiveness in the rapidly growing AI chip market. Samsung highlighted that the expanded cooperation aligns with its strategy to offer end-to-end semiconductor solutions tailored to diverse AI and high-performance computing applications.
The partnership reflects a broader industry trend in which major technology companies are increasingly developing custom AI accelerators instead of relying primarily on general-purpose graphics processing units (GPUs). This shift is driving demand for closer collaboration between chip designers and manufacturers specializing in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
The memorandum of understanding outlines a five-year technology collaboration encompassing Broadcom’s ASIC design capabilities and Samsung’s cutting-edge manufacturing processes. A key element of the deal includes Broadcom’s next-generation communications chips, intended for high-speed data transfer, which will be produced using Samsung’s sub-2-nanometre process technology. Additionally, the two companies will work together on advancing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products designed to complement AI workloads.
This alliance aims to bolster Samsung’s foundry business, as the company seeks to close the gap on industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The partnership follows recent discussions by Samsung’s co-CEO and chip division head, Jun Young-hyun, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding next-generation foundry collaboration. By deepening ties with major technology players like Broadcom, Samsung is positioning itself to capture a larger share of the growing market for custom AI semiconductor solutions.
