Samsung, SK Group sign $950 billion in AI deals as South Korea courts US tech giants

SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL: South Korea unveiled $950 billion worth of new AI initiatives involving Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and major US tech firms, as global AI companies race to secure chip supplies to power increasingly advanced systems.

SK Group alone signed deals worth $750 billion, including a partnership between SK Hynix and Nvidia valued at more than $500 billion, South Korea's presidential Blue House said following an AI summit hosted by President Lee Jae Myung in San Francisco.

Samsung Electronics said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom covering up to $200 billion across memory chips, foundry services, and advanced packaging.

The agreements mark the latest push by US AI firms to lock in supply as demand for chips and computing infrastructure continues to outpace availability, driving closer partnerships with South Korea's semiconductor and memory leaders.

Speaking at the summit, President Lee said South Korea would help lead a new era of AI in partnership with global technology firms, offering the country's "dynamic AI ecosystem" to expand the global market for both industrial and personal AI use. He unveiled a "San Francisco AI Declaration" outlining South Korea's ambitions for technological cooperation with the United States.

"I'd like to present a vision for the future of AI and propose global cooperation to make it happen," Lee said.

Ahead of the summit, Lee held separate meetings with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan. Also in attendance were Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.

Nvidia and SK Group separately announced a $500 billion AI initiative covering large-scale AI data centers and next-generation memory. The plan includes a long-term partnership with SK Hynix to secure next-generation memory supply for Nvidia and jointly develop high-bandwidth memory for AI training, AI agents, and physical AI applications. As part of the deal, SK Telecom plans to build a 2-gigawatt data center powered by Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix's HBM4 memory, expected to come online in 2027.

Samsung, meanwhile, said it would work with Broadcom to develop its next-generation AI accelerator based on Samsung's HBM technology, while providing Broadcom with sub-2-nanometer foundry processes and advanced packaging solutions.

SK Chairman Chey said AI customers are now seeking far more memory than previously anticipated, citing recent conversations with Nvidia, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Broadcom. He said Nvidia's five-year memory projections could soon prove too conservative. "I wouldn't be surprised if, the next time I see (Huang), he'll tell me those figures were too low and say, 'I want more,'" Chey said.

He added that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan had told him the company's memory demand was likely to outstrip available supply, and that Anthropic was regularly checking on future chip availability as it moves from developing AI models to building its own computing capacity. Chey also said OpenAI would need enormous computing power and had urged SK to supply chips directly to the company.

Chey said Anthropic was making its own "computing power," without elaborating — a comment that may relate to a plan reported earlier by Reuters that Anthropic is exploring designing its own chips. An Anthropic spokesperson said the company was always exploring options and drawing on a range of chips as part of a diversified approach to computing. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei did not comment on the reported plan directly but said the company had signed supply deals with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, without providing further details.

In May, Anthropic raised funding at a post-money valuation of $965 billion, naming Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron as partners whose technologies are critical to its supply of memory, storage, and logic chips.

President Lee is scheduled to attend a Silicon Valley meeting on Saturday between South Korea's National Pension Service — the world's third-largest pension fund — and US-based venture capital firms, aimed at encouraging investment in South Korean startups.

The events reflect Lee's broader push to attract global capital and technology partners as part of one of the world's most ambitious state-backed AI strategies. Last month, he unveiled three major state-driven projects anchored by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build semiconductor production clusters, physical AI ecosystems, and AI data centers, as part of an industrial strategy involving more than $576 billion in investment.