※[Global Morning Briefing] summarizes global news delivered by Seoul Economic Daily.
Lisa Su Unveils New Weapon… "HBM4 Final Contract with Samsung Imminent"
At "AMD Advancing AI 2026," held in San Francisco on the 23rd, AMD Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su said the final HBM4 contract with Samsung Electronics was "almost there." Samsung Electronics signed a priority HBM4 supply MOU with AMD in March, and at the event, Foundry President Han Jin-man and DSA General Vice President Cho Sang-yeon attended in person to conduct final discussions toward a full supply agreement.
At the event, AMD declared mass production of "Helios," an AI server rack system integrating 72 "Instinct MI455X" GPUs and 18 "EPYC" CPUs, with shipments set to begin from the end of the third quarter. Helios will be equipped with Samsung Electronics' HBM4, and OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle have already been secured as customers. In particular, each AMD GPU carries 50% more HBM4 than Nvidia's, raising expectations for expanded HBM demand.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon also visited the venue and met with CEO Lisa Su, supporting Korean companies' participation in an open AI ecosystem.
US Allows Nuclear-Free Saudi But Blocks Korea… NYT Says "Crack in 70-Year Alliance"
As the United States signed an unusual nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, critics pointed out that Korea, long regarded as a model country for nuclear non-proliferation, is instead being subjected to an unfair double standard. On the 23rd, The New York Times (NYT) criticized that Saudi Arabia, which has no nuclear power plants, was granted more favorable treaty terms than Korea, a nuclear power powerhouse. The United States banned Korea's independent uranium enrichment under the 1972 nuclear agreement and maintained the condition of US consent even after the 2015 revision, but granted Saudi Arabia conditional uranium enrichment rights and exempted it from stringent IAEA inspections.
In detail, however, the situation is not so simple: Saudi Arabia can only enrich uranium through a "black box" method, which limits its acquisition of independent technology, while Korea aims to secure its own uranium enrichment and reprocessing rights. There is also an assessment that Korea, which possesses nuclear plant construction capabilities, is a more advantageous partner for keeping Russia and China in check.
The Saudi agreement still faces obstacles, including the precondition of joining the Abraham Accords and passage through the US Congress, and concerns about nuclear proliferation in Korea and Japan have been raised even within the Republican Party. Experts analyzed that if opposition to the Saudi agreement grows, stricter conditions could instead be applied to Korea. Attention is focused on the direction of the second round of Korea-US nuclear cooperation talks, expected next month.
US 10-Year Yield Hits 18-Month High… Is the "7% Funding Cost Era" Coming for Big Tech?
As US Treasury yields surged amid worsening Middle East conditions, funding costs are soaring for big tech companies expanding AI investments. On the 23rd, the US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.711% intraday, marking an 18-month high since January 2025, and continued its upward trend for a fourth consecutive trading day. With Houthi rebels attacking a Saudi oil tanker and President Trump signaling an expansion of attacks on Iran, Brent crude surpassed $100 per barrel, and the market is watching for the possibility of the 10-year yield exceeding 5%.
Accordingly, big tech corporate bond yields also rose in tandem. The yield on Alphabet's bond maturing in 2046 jumped to 6.11%, and the yield on Oracle's bond maturing in 2030 also rose to 6.09%. For the $12 billion in bonds Meta Platforms plans to issue to build a Texas data center, a yield in the 7% range is being discussed, a level 0.4 percentage points higher than last year. Amid this, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan launched an "AI corporate bond basket," a risk-hedging product for big tech corporate bond investors, reflecting market anxiety.
Nvidia-Backed Packaging Powerhouse Amkor to Break "Hidden Bottleneck" in AI Chips
Amkor Technology, the top US semiconductor back-end company, signed a 2 trillion won advanced packaging contract with Nvidia, sending its stock surging 17% in after-hours trading. According to Bloomberg on the 23rd, Nvidia signed a $1.5 billion (about 2.2 trillion won) contract with Amkor, including an advance payment, to expand semiconductor production in the US, and the two companies plan to jointly develop technology to combine different chips into a single package. Amkor's stock has risen 63.14% this year.
As completing advanced accelerator chips for AI requires sophisticated packaging technology, the semiconductor back-end industry has emerged as a new supply bottleneck. Amkor previously entered a 10-year long-term partnership with TSMC in June and is also collaborating with AMD on chip packaging. However, leadership in the semiconductor packaging industry still lies in Asia; according to a Deloitte report, Taiwan, China, and Korea account for about 90% of the total market, and Taiwan's ASE Technology, the world's No. 1, has revenue three times that of Amkor.
Nonetheless, the backdrop to the attention on Amkor is the US semiconductor supply chain reshoring drive. In 2023, Amkor announced the construction of a $7 billion large-scale packaging plant in Peoria, Arizona, and has emerged as a key pillar of the US semiconductor supply chain with support from the CHIPS Act. The plant aims for commercial production in 2028. Meanwhile, Amkor also has deep ties with Korea, tracing its origins to Amkor Electronics, founded by the late Kim Hyang-soo, founder of the Anam Group.
