SK hynix agreed to supply $750 billion (about 1,085 trillion won) worth of advanced memory chips to Nvidia and other US tech giants over the next five years, according to Kim Yong-beom, South Korea's presidential chief of staff for policy, relayed by chip-industry commentator Jukan on X. The same day, Samsung Electronics signed a separate memorandum of understanding with Broadcom covering $200 billion (about 290 trillion won) in advanced memory supply and foundry cooperation for AI chip production, also over five years. Both announcements came during President Lee Jae-myung's visit to Silicon Valley, where South Korean officials have been framing the trip as a showcase for the country's memory chip industry. The SK hynix deal spans Nvidia and unnamed other technology companies, while the Samsung-Broadcom MOU pairs memory supply with foundry work, since Broadcom designs custom AI chips for clients like Google and Meta that need a manufacturing partner. Around the same time, Anthropic's chief executive said separately that the company had signed its own supply agreements with both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, adding a third major AI buyer to the mix. The deals come as demand for memory from AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic has surged all at once, with Samsung and SK hynix each pursuing large customers in the race for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, market share. The figures are large enough to raise questions about how binding they are. Both are framed as five-year memorandums rather than signed, itemized contracts, so how much of the $950 billion combined total converts into actual revenue depends on terms still being worked out.
Why it matters · The dollar figures are among the largest memory supply commitments ever floated, but they're five-year MOUs rather than signed contracts, so how much actually turns into revenue depends on execution over time.
Worth asking · SK hynix's $750 billion and Samsung's $200 billion memory MOUs landed on the same day, a combined $950 billion tied to a presidential visit. Do you read these as a real signal of order growth ahead, or as headline figures inflated to fit the occasion?