It was reported that Samsung signed off on GPU investment during its board meeting. While the specifics aren't out yet, this investment could be large-scale, and the South Korean firm might be preparing to upgrade its internal AI processing infrastructure with the investment.
Samsung reportedly decided to invest in GPUs, which could be for AI infrastructure
According to a report from Bloter, Samsung has decided to invest in GPUs. The company's key executives, including the board of directors, have reportedly decided on this investment. Although the specifics haven't been revealed, it is speculated that this investment will be used to beef up its IT infrastructure for AI processing.
According to Samsung Electronics' corporate governance report, the company's management committee resolved the “GPU investment case” in March 2023. This committee consists of JH Han (Vice President and Head of Samsung DX), TM Roh (President and Head of Samsung MX), HG Park (President and Head of Management Support Office), and JB Lee (President of Samsung Memory). These officials were reportedly present and signed off on the GPU investment at this year's meeting.
This is reportedly the first time Samsung executives have discussed GPU investments since 2012. AI investment has become extremely important, but a single item in the semiconductor segment has never been discussed earlier. Some blogs misinterpreted this report and questioned if this investment is for in-house development of GPU IP, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
The story continues after the video below.
A few months ago, it was revealed that Samsung will use Nvidia's Omniverse ‘Digital Twin' system to design and improve its foundry. It is possible that this GPU investment could be referring to an investment in GPU processing capabilities for Nvidia Omniverse integration.
The company has established the Hwaseong High-Performance Computing (HPC) Center at its Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. Construction of this center began in November 2021 and was completed in April this year. Since this center will be equipped with large-scale servers and network equipment for semiconductor design, Samsung might invest a lot in buying AI-focussed GPUs from Nvidia (or AMD?).
