AMD CEO confirms that the MI300 GPU line cannot be manufactured without TSMC's advanced process technology.

Over the past several months, rumors circulated that AMD might be shifting advanced chip fabrication orders to Samsung for its next-generation data center products. The reports stemmed from news that Samsung had secured 4nm orders from a major data center customer, with almost all major South Korean tech outlets reporting on the development. Some speculation suggested that this data center client was AMD itself, potentially including future 3nm products.

During a recent visit to Taiwan, AMD CEO Lisa Su firmly refuted these claims. She questioned whether Taiwan reporters really believed Korean media reports that AMD would shift orders for next-gen products, including 3nm, to Samsung. Dr. Su stated unequivocally that the company has not engaged in any deal with Samsung. While declining to comment specifically on future supply chain cooperation plans with Taiwan, including TSMC, she emphasized that "the Taiwanese chip maker will be a major partner of AMD and they will continue to work together." According to reports, AMD is currently the second largest customer of TSMC with a 10% sales share, and Su declared: "Our relationship with Taiwan is very stable."

The AMD CEO underscored TSMC's critical role in the company's advanced chip development. She stated that the upcoming Instinct MI300 chips would not have been possible without TSMC due to their incredibly complex designs, which include 3D SoIC, CoWoS packages, and various vertically stacked chips. Su noted that AMD has beaten both Intel and NVIDIA in the chiplet domain—NVIDIA has yet to fully absorb the chiplet architecture for its chips, while Intel's design has only recently been adopted by Aurora, a supercomputer that had missed various launch schedules. The MI300 series of chips integrate these complex processes and advanced packaging, making them reliant on TSMC's technology, as "it cannot be done without TSMC."

The visit to Taiwan was primarily aimed at solidifying and strengthening relationships with supply chain partners and meeting thousands of AMD employees in the country. Notably, AMD did not have a major presence at Computex this year, while NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang held the opening keynote for the exhibition and generated significant media coverage, with the company's exponential growth in AI overshadowing other announcements. The AMD Instinct MI300 chips are expected to debut later this year and will target the AI landscape with substantial performance capabilities.