Key Highlights
- Advanced Micro Devices pursues agreement to deliver 10,000 MI355 processors to Korean firm Upstage.
- Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, conducted discussions with Upstage’s leader Sung Kim during Seoul visit.
- Korean startup seeks to reduce reliance on Nvidia’s overwhelming market presence in regional AI infrastructure.
- Upstage participates in government-sponsored AI development competition dubbed the “AI Squid Game.”
- The startup develops a 200-billion-parameter language model for upcoming summer assessment phase.
Advanced Micro Devices has entered negotiations to deliver 10,000 MI355 AI processing units to Upstage, a South Korean artificial intelligence company — representing a potentially significant breakthrough for the semiconductor manufacturer in Asia’s rapidly expanding AI sector.
Korean AI startup Upstage is in discussions with AMD to buy 10,000 of its latest AI accelerators as part of an effort to bring large-scale compute into the country https://t.co/PmSjPo7i85
— Bloomberg (@business) March 23, 2026
Following last week’s meeting between Upstage’s Sung Kim and AMD chief Lisa Su in Seoul, Kim acknowledged the ongoing negotiations. Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Monday, Kim stated, “Korea has substantial Nvidia infrastructure, but diversification across multiple chip providers, including AMD’s offerings, is our objective.”
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., AMD
These negotiations emerge as artificial intelligence computing requirements surge throughout Asian markets, with organizations exploring alternatives amid concerns regarding Nvidia’s availability constraints and cost structures.
Securing a 10,000-unit purchase order would represent more than revenue growth for AMD. It would establish crucial market presence in a region where Nvidia maintains commanding leadership.
AMD Targets Nvidia’s Korean Market Stronghold
Upstage represents one of four competitors in a government-sponsored initiative to develop South Korea’s premier national AI platform. The competition — informally called the “AI Squid Game” referencing the popular Netflix series — operates under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s supervision.
Competitors undergo biannual evaluations, with leading performers receiving expanded access to premium Nvidia graphics processing units. South Korean authorities intend to identify two final candidates by early 2026.
Maintaining competitive standing requires Upstage to construct a large-scale language model containing approximately 200 billion parameters, prepared for the summer evaluation phase. Such computational demands necessitate substantial processing infrastructure.
Incorporating AMD’s processing technology would enable Upstage to obtain necessary computational resources while minimizing concentration risk with a single hardware provider.
Upstage Pursues Economical AI Solutions at Enterprise Scale
Beyond competitive participation, Upstage pursues global market expansion. The organization targets territories including the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam with “sovereign AI” frameworks — systems operating within national boundaries to maintain data residency and infrastructure sovereignty.
Operational efficiency forms a fundamental element of this strategy. As affordable AI platforms from Chinese developers gain worldwide adoption, Upstage seeks to provide superior performance at competitive pricing. Combining AMD and Nvidia technologies could facilitate achieving this equilibrium.
Should negotiations succeed, the arrangement would provide meaningful validation of the MI355’s capability to perform effectively in rigorous, mission-critical deployment scenarios.
AMD stock declined approximately 1.92% on Sunday. The Wall Street consensus maintains a Moderate Buy recommendation, supported by 21 Buy and 8 Hold assessments recorded during the previous three months. Analysts project an average price target of $284.96, suggesting potential appreciation of approximately 41% from present valuation levels.
