Samsung Electronics has struck a partnership with U.S. chip designer Broadcom that the companies expect to exceed $200 billion in value and run through 2030, according to Reuters.
Samsung said on Saturday, July 25, that the pact widens cooperation across three areas: memory chips, contract chip making (known as foundry work), and advanced packaging, Reuters reported. In other words, Samsung will help design-partner Broadcom by both manufacturing chips and supplying the memory and assembly technology that go around them.
According to Bloomberg, as reported via Techmeme, the manufacturing side of the deal focuses on Samsung's most advanced production methods — its 2-nanometer and below process technologies — used to build Broadcom's products. Smaller nanometer numbers generally mean chips that are faster and more power-efficient, which matters enormously for the heavy computing demands of artificial intelligence.
Reuters framed the agreement as a boost to Samsung's foundry ambitions, an area where the company has trailed Taiwan's TSMC. Winning a marquee customer like Broadcom strengthens Samsung's case that it can compete for the industry's most demanding, cutting-edge orders.
The timing reflects a broader shift in the AI hardware market. As one Reuters-sourced report noted, global technology companies are increasingly designing their own custom AI accelerators rather than relying solely on general-purpose graphics processors. That trend is driving demand for specialized partnerships that pair chip design with manufacturing and packaging — exactly the kind of arrangement Samsung and Broadcom have now formalized.
Why it matters: a deal of this scale signals that the race to build custom AI chips is reshaping alliances across the semiconductor industry, giving Samsung a major foothold in the technology that powers the AI boom.