Samsung Electronics shares jumped as much as 5% on Tuesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that the South Korean tech giant is now producing artificial intelligence chips for his company—news that has analysts buzzing about a potential turnaround for Samsung’s struggling foundry business.
Speaking at Nvidia’s GTC developer conference in California, Huang unveiled the company’s new AI inference processor, built on technology from chip startup Groq. In a shout-out that moved markets, he thanked Samsung for manufacturing the Groq LP30 chips, adding that production is in full swing with shipments expected in the second half of this year.
Samsung also took the opportunity to showcase the Nvidia chips—made using its advanced 4-nanometer process—at the conference, signaling a deepening partnership between the two tech giants.
The announcement ignited hopes that Samsung’s foundry division, which produces logic chips for heavyweights like Tesla, Apple, and its own phone business, could finally stop the bleeding. The unit has posted billions in annual losses in recent years, but analysts now see a potential return to breakeven as early as next year.
By mid-morning trade, Samsung shares were up 4.3% at 196,800 won after hitting 198,000 won earlier, outpacing the broader market’s 2.7% gain.
Heungkuk Securities analyst Sohn In-joon welcomed the Nvidia news but struck a cautious note, predicting the foundry business could reach breakeven late next year. However, he warned that surging memory chip prices might dampen demand from mobile phones, potentially weighing on foundry earnings.
Adding to the buzz, media reports suggest AMD CEO Lisa Su is set to meet Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee in South Korea on Wednesday, fueling speculation that the two could discuss deeper collaboration in both memory chips and logic semiconductors.
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