By Kim Boram
SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) — U.S. chip giant Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) startup Upstage said Thursday they have expanded their strategic collaboration to accelerate next-generation AI development and support Korea’s sovereign AI push, as AMD steps up its presence in the region.
The announcement follows a meeting in Seoul between Upstage Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sung Kim, and AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su, where the two leaders discussed broader cooperation to drive AI innovation.
AMD and Upstage have been strategic partners since AMD joined Upstage’s 62 billion-won (US$41.3 million) Series B bridge investment last year.
Upstage CEO Sung Kim (L) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CEO Lisa Su pose for a photo during a meeting in Seoul on March 19, 2026, in this photo provided by Upstage. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Under the expanded collaboration, Upstage will deploy AMD’s Instinct MI355 accelerators based on a multiphase road map over the next year, leveraging the graphics processing units (GPUs) to enhance its large language models (LLMs) and document processing engines.
The deployment will also support the development of a sovereign AI model as part of the South Korean government-led AI foundation model project. Upstage has advanced to the second round of the project, alongside SK Telecom Co. and LG AI Research.
Through the partnership, AMD and Upstage aim to strengthen South Korea’s domestic AI ecosystem while diversifying the nation’s sovereign AI infrastructure, the companies said.
Upstage said the collaboration, powered by AMD’s GPU, is expected to play a key role in advancing its LLMs and building the country’s sovereign AI model.
“Pairing that with domestic infrastructure gives us the foundation to make Korea a genuinely competitive force in global AI,” Kim said.
AMD CEO Su said she has chosen Upstage as its partner as the startup is at the forefront of AI innovation in South Korea.
“This collaboration brings together AMD Instinct GPUs and the ROCm open software with Upstage’s expertise to advance Korea’s sovereign AI capabilities, and deliver the performance, efficiency and open ecosystem needed to accelerate AI innovation,” she said.
During her visit to South Korea this week, Su met with key business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Naver Corp. CEO Choi Soo-yeon.
On Wednesday, AMD announced an agreement with Samsung Electronics to purchase the latter’s high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips for its next-generation GPU, with plans to expand cooperation beyond memory chips to advanced foundry and packaging services.
Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong (R) toasts with Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., at Seungjiwon in Seoul on March 18, 2026, in this photo provided by Samsung Electronics. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
brk@yna.co.kr
(YONHAP NEWS)