AMD to Set Up AI Research Center in South Korea to Build Open Computing Ecosystem

TradingKey - South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT announced on July 27 that the South Korean government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with U.S. chip giant AMD ( AMD ), under which the two parties will establish an AI research center in South Korea and jointly build an open AI computing infrastructure ecosystem.

Under the agreement, AMD will establish an "AI Center of Excellence" in South Korea to coordinate cooperation among South Korean enterprises, universities, and research institutions in areas such as AI semiconductor software development and computing technology verification.

Meanwhile, the two parties will also jointly build a heterogeneous AI computing infrastructure, combining AMD's CPUs and GPUs with domestic NPUs of South Korean companies competitive in the AI inference field, to construct a more open AI computing power platform.

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT stated that the cooperation was finalized on July 23 local time at the "AMD Advancing AI 2026" event in San Francisco, coinciding with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to the U.S., with AMD CEO Lisa Su personally attending the signing ceremony.

From GPU to Heterogeneous Computing

The core of this partnership is "heterogeneous computing." As generative AI and agentic AI become more widespread, inference demand is surging, prompting AI computing architecture to shift from a single GPU-dominated model to a heterogeneous computing model that combines various chips—such as CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs—on demand.

It is widely believed in the industry that this heterogeneous computing architecture not only improves computing efficiency but also reduces deployment costs and power consumption, gradually becoming the focal point of infrastructure competition.

Bae Kyung-hoon, South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, said at the signing ceremony: "Global AI competition is shifting toward heterogeneous computing and open ecosystems. Through our partnership with AMD, we will enhance our domestic AI semiconductor competitiveness and establish a new cooperation model to address changes in global AI computing infrastructure."

R&D Implementation and Talent Development

In addition to hardware collaboration, AMD will also participate in South Korea's national-level AI scientific research initiatives. The company will provide computing resources such as high-performance CPUs, GPUs, and AI software to South Korea's National Scientific AI Research Center, while also dispatching technical experts to advance collaborative research in the "AI for Science" field.

In addition, talent cultivation is also a key focus of the collaboration. AMD plans to cooperate with several South Korean universities and research institutions to provide students and researchers with development environments and training resources based on the AMD AI platform, and conduct joint research on next-generation AI technologies such as physical AI, further improving the local AI talent development ecosystem.

Lisa Su stated at the signing ceremony: "South Korea possesses global competitiveness in semiconductors, AI, frontier research, and physical AI, and is a core strategic market for AMD. This collaboration is not only about hardware support, but also reflects AMD's long-term commitment to contributing to South Korea's AI innovation and economic growth through technological cooperation, talent cultivation, and close collaborative R&D."

Notably, prior to AMD, Nvidia ( NVDA) had already established partnerships with South Korean universities including KAIST and Seoul National University, and has continuously expanded its investment in South Korea's AI ecosystem. Now, as the two AI chip giants successively strengthen their cooperation with the South Korean government and research institutions, it also reflects that South Korea, leveraging its mature semiconductor supply chain, well-established talent pool, and government policy support, is gradually becoming a critical hub in the global competition for AI infrastructure.