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Samsung
Data center news, project activity, and monthly briefings for Samsung.
Editor's picks
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Calibrating the Right Policy Response to the AI-Driven Memory Chip Shortage
ITIF has published an analysis arguing that the U.S. should respond cautiously to the AI-driven memory chip shortage and prioritize expanding domestic semiconductor supply rather than micromanaging allocation.
- The article says the shortage is being driven by AI-related data center demand, with DRAM and NAND supply constrained as major producers Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix prioritize HBM.
- It recommends avoiding semiconductor tariffs, keeping export controls narrowly targeted, considering limited temporary licenses for YMTC and CXMT only for China-market sales, and expanding U.S. capacity through the 35% Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, the $275 million CHIPS award for Micron’s Manassas, Virginia facility, and supply agreements such as Micron’s deal with General Motors.
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Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 7: Transforming Regulatory Policy
ITIF has published a policy report arguing for a major transformation of U.S. regulatory policy to support national techno-economic competition with China.
- The report says Congress should centralize national issues such as AI regulation, preempt many state privacy/AI laws, and reduce federal barriers for nationally important projects such as industrial parks, infrastructure, and data centers.
- It also argues for NEPA repeal, Section 404 repeal, size-neutral rules, antitrust reform, and a new Commerce Department process to designate up to 100 projects per year for streamlined approval; it also proposes federally designated industrial readiness zones of 50–100 sites of at least 3,000 acres each.
- Monetary values mentioned include $98 billion–$112 billion annually in potential out-of-state privacy compliance costs, $1 trillion+ over 10 years, $650 million in a Facebook BIPA-related settlement cited in the report, and $100 billion a year for carbon removal referenced in a supporting example.
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Financial Stability Report - July 2026
The Bank of England has published its July 2026 Financial Stability Report, warning that AI-related valuations, leverage, private credit risks and frontier AI cyber threats are increasing financial stability risks.
- The report says vulnerabilities in risky asset valuations, sovereign debt markets, private credit, and equity leverage remain, while frontier AI is creating new cyber and operational resilience risks.
- It also announces proposed reforms to the UK capital framework, including making buffers more releasable and consulting on changes to the leverage ratio; the report references earlier announcements and ongoing consultations rather than a single new deal.
- The report includes a system-wide exploratory scenario on private markets, states the UK has the largest data centre pipeline in Europe, and notes that AI data centre build-out will require significant investment and financing.
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ST 10094 2026 ADD 3
The European Commission has published an Impact Assessment accompanying a Proposal for a Regulation to strengthen Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem (Chips Act 2.0), repealing Regulation (EU) 2023/1782.
- Main measures announced:Strategic Projects (EU-level co-funded industrial deployment via a proposed European Competitiveness Fund), clarification of the First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) scope, a voluntary Business-to-Business Semiconductor Supply Chain Platform with targeted pre-crisis information requests (PM5/PM6), and demand-side measures including innovation procurement and a recommended security-of-supply declaration in public procurement (PM8–PM10). The document sets out concrete implementation elements, candidate measures PM1–PM10, and governance via the European Semiconductor Board and the Chips JU.
- Background facts and concrete figures:EUR 80 billion in announced/planned manufacturing investments attributed to the Chips Act (Pillar II); 11 FOAK projects approved by end-2025 worth over EUR 31.6 billion (public + private); target to increase EU manufacturing capacity ~30% (from 1.07 million wspm in 2023 to ~1.39 million wspm by 2030); explicit references to AI-driven demand (AI chips to represent >70% of market by 2030) and data-centre capacity forecasts (quadrupling of EU data centre capacity 2025–2030).
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Targeted Pressure: How Chinese Manufacturing Competition Impacts US States
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has published a report finding Chinese industrial policy is reshaping global manufacturing and harming industries across every U.S. state.
- Main finding & method: The ITIF report (June 1, 2026) analyzes one “national power industry” per state using County Business Patterns employment data, HS/SITC export proxies, and global market-share series to conclude that state-backed Chinese subsidies, export pushes, and overcapacity are driving down prices and pressuring U.S. producers in sectors such as semiconductors, batteries, aircraft, and fabricated metals.
- Key facts, numbers, and timelines:China plans ~$150 billion in semiconductor investment through 2030 vs. $52 billion under the U.S. CHIPS funding; the report cites $63.3 billion Chinese semiconductor spending in H1 2025, TSMC’s $165 billion U.S. investment announcement, GE Appliances’ $490 million Appliance Park investment (2025), and state/national export shares and HS-code trade series used throughout the analyses.
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Empowering Telecom Core Networks Through Collaboration and Innovation
Dell and Samsung have announced successful validation of Samsung’s mobile core on the Dell PowerEdge R7625 server powered by AMD EPYC processors.
- Main announcement: Dell and Samsung completed validation testing of Samsung’s mobile core running on the Dell PowerEdge R7625 (2U rackmount) using AMD EPYC processors (up to 128 cores per CPU), demonstrating performance, scalability, and reliability for disaggregated telecom core deployments.
- Background and details: The validation emphasizes cache-sensitive performance using 4th Gen AMD EPYC with 3D V-Cache™, highlights readiness for open, disaggregated core infrastructures, and includes vendor statements from Boyoung Yoon (Samsung) and Derek Dicker (AMD) confirming platform-level interoperability and operator confidence. No monetary figures or implementation timelines were provided.
Recent news
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Another Data Center IPO Fizzles as Investor Appetite Wanes
Elice has completed its IPO and reported a weak first-day trading performance, while the article also cites broader investor caution across AI/data-center listings.
- Elice raised 201 billion Korean won (US$150 million) in its debut and fell 32% on its first day of trading before closing slightly higher.
- The company said IPO proceeds will fund data centers in South Korea and possible expansion to the US, Japan, and Singapore; the article also references other delayed or withdrawn listings including Firmus ($5 billion IPO), PLDT’s data center REIT IPO, and AirTrunk’s $1.5 billion Singapore REIT.
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With 90% of its developable land utilised, New Noida to come up in over 20,000 hectares
Noida Authority has announced a 20,000-hectare greenfield expansion called New Noida to support industrial growth and phased land acquisition.
- The plan is being presented as a new infrastructure push for Noida, with land acquisition slated to begin in phases and existing areas also being considered for higher FAR to enable vertical redevelopment.
- The authority said the next groundbreaking ceremony will include about 120 industrial proposals with an estimated investment of nearly Rs 35,000 crore across data infrastructure, electronics manufacturing, commercial real estate, logistics, and institutional development; it also said the region already hosts major firms including Samsung, Dixon, TCS, Infosys, HCL, Microsoft, Wipro, Adobe, Sify, and AdaniConneX.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ecosia founder clarifies move away from Mistral – It’s about open models, not China
Ecosia has said it is shifting from Mistral to more affordable, energy-efficient open AI models, with founder and CEO Christian Kroll clarifying that the move is about open models and European infrastructure rather than Chinese technology.
- Ecosia expects to use Melious.ai in future; Kroll said the German platform offers high-quality, affordable AI inference powered by green electricity and that Ecosia can switch models for sensitive topics such as Taiwan.
- The article also references Mistral AI’s recent financing: €3 billion Series D in September 2026, €722 million debt financing in March for a first large-scale data centre near Paris, and a €1.7 billion Series C in September 2025; Ecosia itself has largely grown without external financing and adopted steward-ownership in 2018.
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AMD to ramp up CPU, GPU supply in 2027 as AI demand surges
AMD has announced plans to substantially increase CPU and GPU supply in 2027, with CEO Lisa Su saying the company is already expanding supply and capacity in 2026.
- Su said AMD is planning capacity three to five years ahead and was in Taiwan on October 5-6 to ramp supply for CPU and GPU production.
- She reportedly met Foxconn and was scheduled to meet TSMC; she also visited South Korea and met Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) to broaden partnerships.
- The article also notes AMD’s 2027 ramp depends on partners including TSMC, SK Hynix, and Samsung, with constraints tied to HBM4, CoWoS packaging, and foundry capacity.
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The rise of lithium-ion batteries – EQ
The article is an analytical commentary on the rise of lithium-ion batteries and the policy and industrial conditions behind their global expansion.
- It says the global lithium-ion battery market is worth more than USD 150 billion and explains how the technology spread from publicly funded research in the United States, Europe and Japan to commercial products in Japan, then large-scale production in Korea and China.
- It highlights key milestones including Samsung overtaking Panasonic in 2011, China producing 85% of lithium-ion batteries globally, and battery prices falling 97% by 2025 versus 2000; it also notes battery use in EVs, power grids, data centres, drones and robotics.
- The piece also discusses policy support such as China’s subsidies, land use guarantees, preferential land pricing and state-backed capital, plus raw-material strategies involving lithium, graphite and other minerals and investment ties with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
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🤖 La Machine #91: Mistral’s €3 Billion Mic Drop
Mistral AI has announced a €3 billion funding round at a post-money valuation above €21 billion.
- Samsung led the financing, which Mistral says is the largest private European tech equity round on record.
- The funds are intended for frontier research, more compute, and Mistral’s own infrastructure; the article also says Mistral has nearly doubled its valuation in a year and is still positioning itself against OpenAI and Anthropic.
- The piece is a newsletter-style news summary referencing a recent announcement rather than publishing Mistral’s original press release.
- The article also mentions Mistral’s sovereignty pitch and says competitive models are coming “very soon.”
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Mistral AI Raises €3 Billion at €21 Billion Valuation to Keep Europe in the AI Race
Mistral AI has announced a €3 billion equity round at a post-money valuation of more than €21 billion. - The round is led by Samsung Electronics, with Scaleup Europe Fund (EQT) and PSG Equity as co-leads; new investors include Advent, BlackRock-managed funds, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
- The company says the financing will expand frontier research, fund more infrastructure including its own data centers, and support larger and faster models; Microsoft reportedly did not participate despite a prior infrastructure agreement in Europe.
- The article also says the round makes Mistral the largest equity round ever completed by a privately held European technology company and that its valuation has nearly doubled from about €12 billion in a year.
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Nvidia unveils alternative high bandwidth technology to bolster AI cards
Nvidia has announced NVHBM, a customized High Bandwidth Memory architecture for AI accelerators and custom XPUs.
- The company says NVHBM is part of its NVLink Fusion platform and is aimed at hyperscalers and AI companies building custom accelerators; Amazon’s Annapurna Labs is named as the first announced partner.
- Nvidia says the design moves the memory controller into the HBM stack’s base die, and claims up to 30% greater bandwidth, 15% lower power, and 25% more compute-die area versus conventional HBM4E.
- The article frames this as a blog-post announcement published alongside Nvidia’s quarterly earnings call, not as a report of a separate commercial deal.
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Nvidia, MediaTek Bring Custom Chips to AI Racks
Nvidia has announced that it is opening its rack-scale AI infrastructure and NVLink Fusion technology to custom accelerators from hyperscalers and other AI developers, and it has expanded its partnership with MediaTek to support pre-validated custom XPU designs.
- The platform lets customers design custom XPUs on a pre-validated NVLink Fusion foundation and integrate them into Nvidia-connected AI factory infrastructure built around the MGX ecosystem.
- Nvidia also invested $3.5 billion in convertible bonds issued by MediaTek; the companies did not name any customers or announce specific data center deployments.
- The broader context is Nvidia’s effort to make NVLink interoperable beyond its own processors, while rival approaches include Ethernet and UALink; the MediaTek partnership also extends to local AI computing and automotive systems.
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Our renewable future: batteries to the rescue
East Anglia Bylines has published an opinion-style article arguing that grid-scale battery storage is rapidly improving and helping enable renewable energy transition.
- The article says battery storage costs have fallen sharply, with a grid-level battery energy storage system down by roughly two-thirds since 2022 and lithium carbonate at about one-third of its 2022 price.
- It cites Marek Kubik on market changes, including Saudi Arabia reaching about 18 GWh of grid-scale storage with 24 GWh more in the pipeline, and the United Arab Emirates building a 19 GWh solar/battery project; it also discusses LFP and sodium-ion batteries and mentions possible applications for data centres.
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Security’s rising impact on office experience in Class A buildings: Kastle CEO
Kastle has announced a strategic expansion of its security platform through executive hires and a stronger push into data centers and other high-security venues.
- The company said on July 13 that it hired five senior executives: Matt Burke (COO), Neil Thomas (CRO), Chad Pierce (CIO), Lindsay McLain (CMO), and Steven Weingarth (VP of go-to-market).
- Kastle said it is working to become the category leader in integrated, intelligence-driven security platforms and that its majority stake in i2G Systems has opened opportunities in data centers, sports venues, universities, and hospital systems.
- The article also says Kastle supports Aliro and, in March, became the first company to roll out Aliro 1.0 credentials across Apple, Google, and Samsung mobile wallets and Aliro-enabled readers.
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Meta could start production of Iris AI chip in September – report
Meta has reportedly planned to start production of its forthcoming AI chip Iris in September, according to a Reuters report citing an internal memo.
- Iris production is slated to begin in September; the chip was one of the AI chips Meta unveiled in March and is intended to support generative AI inferencing workloads.
- The memo says Iris took six weeks to test with no major issues; Meta worked with Broadcom on design and TSMC on manufacturing, and separately signed supply agreements with Samsung Electronics, SanDisk, and Sumitomo Electric for memory, flash storage, and fiber optic equipment.
- Reuters also reported Meta plans to deploy 7GW in 2026 and 14GW by the end of 2027; Meta CFO Susan Li said capex would rise to $120 billion-$135 billion this year due in part to higher component pricing and additional data center costs.
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South Korea AI Chip Startup Rebellions Raised $400 Million at $2.3 Billion Valuation & Plans South Korea IPO in 2027 1H, Founded in 2020 by Sunghyun Park, Oh Jin-wook, Kim Hyo-eun & Shin Sung-ho, Investors Include Samsung, SK Hynix, SK Telecom, KT Corp, Korea National Growth Fund, Saudi Aramco (Wa’ed Ventures)
South Korea AI chip startup Rebellions has announced that it raised $400 million at a $2.3 billion valuation and plans a South Korea IPO in the first half of 2027.
- Raised $400 million at a $2.3 billion valuation; the company says it plans to IPO in South Korea in 1H 2027.
- Rebellions says it was founded in 2020 by Sunghyun Park, Oh Jin-wook, Kim Hyo-eun and Shin Sung-ho and counts Samsung, SK Hynix, SK Telecom, KT Corp, Korea National Growth Fund and Saudi Aramco (Wa’ed Ventures) among its investors.
- The company describes itself as an AI accelerator startup providing cards, servers and rack-scale systems for datacenters, with software support for PyTorch 2.x and vLLM.
- It says it has begun mass production of 5nm accelerators deployed across thousands of ATOM cards powering commercial AI services for telecom operators.
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SK Hynix looking to raise $28bn with US IPO
SK Hynix has announced plans to sell 17.8 million shares in a US IPO, with the company expected to raise around $28 billion.
- In an SEC filing dated July 6, SK Hynix said it will offer American depositary receipts (ADRs), with 1 ADR = 0.1 common share; pricing is expected on Thursday, July 9, with trading to begin on Friday, July 10.
- The company said it is one of the world’s largest memory semiconductor companies, ranking second in DRAM and second in NAND flash by revenue; it also reported Q1 2026 revenue of $34.51 billion.
- The article also references a separate earlier announcement that SK Hynix, alongside Samsung, plans to invest $513 billion to build four memory fabs in South Korea and 81 trillion won ($52 billion) for HBM packaging fabs in the Chungcheong region, plus 5 GW of data center capacity and a possible additional 10 GW between 2029 and 2035.