RTX Spark, unveiled on Monday by Jensen Huang, chief executive during a keynote in Taipei ahead of the Computex technology conference, brings about a shift in how computers are used, moving away from traditional software-based workflows towards systems that can carry out tasks through AI agents.

“The PC is being reinvented,” Huang said. “For forty years, you launched apps. Click. Type. With RTX Spark and Microsoft Windows, you ask, and the PC does the work.”

RTX Spark is designed as a superchip built for what Nvidia describes as the “era of personal AI agents”. It combines a Blackwell-based GPU with a Grace CPU, delivering up to 1 petaflop of AI performance and 128GB of unified memory. 

Nvidia says this setup is intended to support complex AI tasks running directly on the device rather than in the cloud.

The company explained that the chip will allow users to run large language models locally, including systems with up to 120 billion parameters, while also handling demanding creative and gaming workloads. These include editing high-resolution video, generating AI video content, and running advanced 3D rendering tools.

Nvidia said RTX Spark systems will support Windows PCs built for what it calls “personal agents”, software that can carry out tasks across applications. The company is working with Microsoft to integrate the technology into Windows, including new security features designed to control how AI agents operate on a device.

Microsoft chairman and chief executive Satya Nadella said the collaboration aims to expand access to advanced computing tools. “Our goal is to deliver unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows,” he said.

The companies noted that the new Windows platform will include tools that allow users to manage what AI agents can access, how data is handled, and when information is processed locally instead of being sent to the cloud.

RTX Spark also targets creators and developers as Nvidia said the chip can support 90GB 3D scene rendering, 12K video editing, and AI-assisted design work. Users will be able to run high-end gaming titles at 1440p resolution with frame rates above 100 frames per second.

Adobe is among the companies adapting its software for the new system. It is reworking Photoshop and Premiere to take advantage of the hardware, with expected performance gains in AI tools such as generative editing and video expansion features.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s chair and chief executive, said the changes would speed up creative work. “The best creative work in the world happens in Adobe tools from Adobe Firefly to Photoshop and Premiere, and the expansion of our partnership with NVIDIA and Microsoft will make those experiences faster and more powerful than ever,” he said.

Other software and gaming companies are also involved, including Blackmagic Design, Blender, ComfyUI, OTOY, and Xbox, all of which said they are preparing support for the new platform.

Hardware makers are preparing devices around the chip. Nvidia said laptops and compact desktops will be produced by companies including ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft Surface and MSI, with Acer and GIGABYTE also expected to join later. The first devices are scheduled for release in the autumn.

RTX Spark systems are expected to come in slim laptop designs and compact desktops aimed at both professionals and consumers. Nvidia said laptops will feature lightweight builds, OLED displays and all-day battery life.

With the launch, Nvidia is going beyond its traditional graphics chip business into full PC system design. Analysts say the move places the company in closer competition with Intel, AMD and Apple in the personal computing market.

The surge places the South Korean firm among the world’s most valuable technology companies and only the second in Asia to reach that level after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

In early trading in Seoul, Samsung’s value climbed to about 1,500 trillion won, or roughly $1.03 trillion. Shares rose by around 12% to 14%, extending a rally that has built steadily over the past year.

Trading volumes picked up as investors reacted to the latest growth in artificial intelligence-linked stocks in the United States overnight.

The South Korean market also moved strongly. The Kospi index jumped more than 5%, pushing above the 7,000 level for the first time. Semiconductor peers SK Hynix and global chip giant TSMC also held near record highs, as the global appetite for AI computing power continues to lift the sector.

Samsung, alongside SK Hynix and TSMC, supplies much of the memory and processing capacity behind data centres and advanced computing systems.

That position has helped shift global investor attention towards Asia’s chipmakers, particularly as demand for high-performance memory continues to tighten.

“The trillion-dollar threshold carries material weight beyond the symbolism,” said Dave Mazza, chief executive officer at Roundhill Investments in New York. “More broadly, it reflects a market judgment that memory’s role in the AI infrastructure stack is structural, not cyclical.”

Recent financial performance has strengthened that view, as Samsung’s semiconductor division recorded a sharp growth in profit in the March quarter, rising about 48 times compared with the previous year.

The company attributed the performance to strong orders from AI data centres and higher contract prices across memory products.

Market analysts expect the growth to continue, but supply in the memory chip industry is still tight, and pricing trends have moved upward.

Sam Konrad, investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management, said: “If investors do some work on Samsung Electronics we think they will conclude that the investment opportunity is attractive even if they have missed its performance up until now,” said Sam Konrad, investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management.

“The memory market is currently undersupplied, and Samsung said that 2027 will see tighter supply and demand than 2026, so prices for NAND and DRAM are likely to continue rising.”

There is also growing interest from outside the semiconductor sector. Reports show that Apple has held discussions about using Samsung to manufacture key processors in the United States, potentially reducing reliance on its long-term partner TSMC.

Foreign investors have played a noticeable role in the latest rally, boosting Samsung valuation. Market data showed net inflows of about 3.1 trillion won into Kospi equities in a single day.

The South Korean won also strengthened, gaining more than 1% against the US dollar to become one of the strongest Asian currencies in the session.

Global views have also supported the move. On Wall Street, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs, with semiconductor and AI-related stocks leading gains.

Despite the strong performance, Samsung’s mobile and display divisions are facing challenges from high material costs and competition. At the same time, labour tensions have emerged, with workers reportedly threatening an 18-day general strike over profit sharing linked to the chip boom.

Even so, market expectations are upbeat. Analysts estimate Samsung’s share price could rise further over the next year, with projections of about 22% upside. The stock currently trades at roughly six times forward earnings, down from over 14 times last year.

Samsung’s rise, together with SK Hynix, has helped make South Korea one of the most closely watched equity markets globally. Together, the two firms account for a large share of the Kospi index and enhance its direction.

Mark Davids, APAC head of emerging markets and Asia Pacific equities at JPMorgan Asset Management, said: “Samsung’s profits reflect a very unusual period where these companies can achieve outsized profits,” he said.

The agreement will see Meta use tens of millions of Graviton processing cores, according to Amazon Web Services executive Nafea Bshara, who said the contract would run for several years and be worth billions of dollars.

Demand for AI infrastructure is spreading beyond graphics processors made by firms such as Nvidia, while GPUs are essential in training AI models. Companies now need large volumes of central processing units to run trained systems, manage workloads and support AI agents.

Meta said the deal is part of its strategy to avoid relying on one supplier or one type of chip.

“As we scale the infrastructure behind Meta’s AI ambitions, diversifying our compute sources is a strategic imperative,” Santosh Janardhan, head of infrastructure at Meta, said in a statement.

Amazon said Meta chose its latest Graviton5 processor because of its price and performance. The chip is Amazon’s fifth in-house CPU generation and is produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

“We pass that savings on to the customers,” Bshara told Reuters.

He added that most of the chip capacity for Meta would be based in the United States.

The partnership builds on an existing relationship between both companies that dates back several years. Earlier work had focused mainly on cloud services, Amazon’s Bedrock platform and GPU rentals.

For Meta, the latest agreement adds to its list of chip partnerships. The company has already signed major supply deals with Nvidia and AMD, while also working with Arm Holdings.

Amazon, meanwhile, is going deeper into AI infrastructure with both its own silicon and outside partnerships. Earlier this week, it announced another $5 billion investment in Anthropic, which will also use tens of millions of AWS Graviton cores.

The ruling, delivered by the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea, adds to a series of cases involving the transfer of advanced chip know-how abroad.

The court found the 56-year-old man, identified by his surname Jeon, guilty of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act.

Judges said he unlawfully obtained and used Samsung’s DRAM process technology after leaving the company and joining China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).

Jeon’s case centres on what authorities describe as national core technology. This includes Samsung’s DRAM production process and detailed manufacturing methods known in the industry as process recipes.

The development of the technology reportedly cost around 1.6 trillion won, or about $1.2 billion.

Prosecutors said the former Samsung Researcher worked with others after moving to CXMT and helped draw up a DRAM development plan for the Chinese firm. They also said he was involved in recruiting key personnel during the transition.

Over a period of about six years, he received around 2.9 billion won, or roughly $2.1 million, from CXMT. This included a sign-on payment and stock options.

CXMT is China’s first DRAM-focused semiconductor company. It was set up with large-scale support from local government funding, estimated at about 2.6 trillion won.

The firm has been expanding quickly as China pushes to reduce reliance on foreign chip suppliers.

Authorities in South Korea argued that the leaked information could have helped CXMT speed up development in high-bandwidth memory technology.

That type of memory is now widely used in artificial intelligence systems and high-performance computing.

Samsung Electronics did not comment on the ruling. CXMT also did not respond to requests for comment.

In its judgment, the court stressed the scale of the breach and its wider impact. The judges said, “He acquired core information developed by a major Korean company at enormous cost and had it used by a foreign entity. Because this inflicted losses not only on the company but also on the Republic of Korea, severe punishment is unavoidable.”

This case is not isolated as South Korea has dealt with several similar incidents in recent years involving advanced display and semiconductor technologies. In earlier cases, employees were found guilty of leaking OLED and chip-related data to overseas firms.

Another related case involving a former Samsung employee surnamed Kim is still under review after reaching South Korea’s Supreme Court. He was previously sentenced to six years in prison and fined for similar offences linked to CXMT.

Court records show that Kim’s case was sent back for retrial after the Supreme Court ruled that earlier proceedings did not properly separate key legal elements, including acquisition and disclosure of trade secrets.

South Korean authorities treat semiconductor process technology as national core technology. Officials say this reveals its importance to both industry and national security.

CXMT has expanded despite the legal challenge surrounding its early development. In 2025, the company announced plans to raise about 29.5 billion yuan through an initial public offering in Shanghai.

The funds are expected to support upgrades to production lines and technology development.

This case also adds to a pattern of industrial espionage disputes involving South Korea’s chip sector. In 2012, several individuals were arrested over alleged leaks of display technology. More cases followed in 2020 and 2023, involving both semiconductor and OLED information.

Intel said on Thursday that Google will continue using its Xeon processors across a wide range of workloads.

This includes inference and general computing, as companies move from training AI models to running them in real-world applications.

That transition is changing demand. More firms now need chips that can handle steady, heavy workloads rather than short bursts of training. CPUs are becoming more important again, especially for inference tasks and memory-heavy operations.

Google will also adopt Intel’s latest Xeon 6 processors. These chips are designed to improve efficiency and handle larger volumes of data.

According to the companies, they are already being used in Google Cloud’s C4 virtual machines, where they deliver significant cost improvements when running open-source AI models.

At the same time, both firms are working more closely on infrastructure processing units, known as IPUs.

These chips take over tasks such as networking, storage and security, which are usually handled by CPUs. In moving those jobs away, the CPUs can focus on core computing work.

Intel’s chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said: “Scaling AI requires more than accelerators – it requires balanced systems. CPUs and IPUs are central to delivering the performance, efficiency and flexibility modern AI workloads demand.”

The growing use of agent-based AI systems is also pushing demand higher. These systems carry out multi-step tasks and need more background processing power, which usually falls on CPUs rather than specialised accelerators.

For Intel, this is important as the company lost ground earlier in the AI boom to competitors that focused on graphics processing units. Now, it is trying to recover by strengthening its position in general-purpose and infrastructure computing.

The partnership with Google gives it a strong foothold in cloud computing, where demand for AI services is continually increasing.

Intel is also expanding its efforts elsewhere. It recently said it will join a new AI chip project linked to Elon Musk, working alongside SpaceX and Tesla to support robotics and data centre development.

In manufacturing, the company plans to take full control of its Ireland facility by buying back a stake from Apollo Global Management. The site produces Xeon server processors and is paramount to Intel’s supply chain.

Both Google and Intel are expected to highlight their joint work later this month at Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas, where they will present updates on AI infrastructure, security and edge computing.

The company said on Tuesday it is projecting an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($38.2 billion) for the January to March period.

This is far ahead of expectations and more than eight times higher than the 6.69 trillion won it reported a year earlier. It also exceeds the company’s total profit for all of last year.

This would be Samsung’s strongest quarterly result on record. Its previous high stood at 20 trillion won, reached in the final quarter of 2025.

Demand from data centres has pushed prices higher. Companies building AI systems buy large volumes of memory chips, stretching supply. As a result, prices for DRAM chips rose sharply in the first quarter, with estimates pointing to increases of more than 50%.

“As customers anticipated further increases, actual contract prices came in higher, leading to the beat,” Kim Sunwoo, a senior analyst at Meritz Securities, said.

Samsung appears to be benefiting across most of its business. Analysts estimate its memory division generated about 54 trillion won in operating profit during the quarter.

Its mobile unit also held up, reporting around 4 trillion won in profit, though slightly lower than a year ago. However, its logic chip business is still under pressure and is expected to post a loss.

Currency movements have also helped. The South Korean won has fallen to a near 17-year low against the U.S. dollar, lifting the value of overseas earnings when converted back.

Even so, there are signs that the pace of growth may slow. The high cost of energy linked to the conflict in the Middle East has added pressure on production. At the same time, there are concerns that customers may begin to push back against high chip prices.

“There are growing concerns about a peak-out in memory price increases. It does appear that we are now past the initial upcycle phase and into a later stage,” said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.

Recent data support that view. Spot prices for DRAM chips eased last week, noting that buyers are struggling to keep up with current price levels.

New technology could also affect demand. Google recently introduced a memory-saving system known as TurboQuant, which may reduce the amount of memory needed for AI workloads.

Samsung has also been working to strengthen its position in high-bandwidth memory chips, which are used in advanced AI processors.

The company began shipping its latest HBM4 chips to Nvidia in February, narrowing the gap with its main opponent, SK Hynix. Still, these advanced chips account for less than 10% of its DRAM revenue, meaning most of the profit is still coming from standard memory products.

In the market, Samsung’s shares rose 1.8% following the earnings outlook, outperforming the index. Shares in SK Hynix also increased.

Despite recent challenges, Samsung’s stock is still significantly higher this year, building on strong gains recorded in 2025.

The company is expected to release full details of its first-quarter results on April 30.

Reports say the company could post operating profit of about 40.5 trillion won ($26.8 billion) for January to March.

That would be six times higher than the same period last year and close to its full-year earnings for 2025. Revenue is also seen going up by about 50%.

Some forecasts go even higher. Analysts at Citigroup expect profit to reach 51 trillion won, above the market estimate.

The profits come as memory chip prices increase. Data from TrendForce shows DRAM contract prices doubled in the first quarter compared with the previous quarter. They are expected to grow by another 58% to 63% in the second quarter.

Demand is being driven by heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Large technology firms are investing heavily in data centres, increasing the need for high-performance memory chips. One analyst described the current market as unusually strong.

“You couldn’t ask for things to be better,” said Ko Yeongmin, analyst at Daol Investment & Securities.

Even so, investors are monitoring developments outside the company. The conflict in the Middle East has pushed up energy prices and could affect supplies of key materials used in chip production.

There are concerns that higher prices may force technology companies to slow spending on AI projects.

At the same time, there are early signs that spot prices for DRAM chips have eased in recent weeks. Higher prices for smartphones and computers are beginning to affect consumer demand.

New technology is also adding pressure. Google recently introduced a memory-saving system called TurboQuant, which could reduce the amount of memory needed for some AI workloads.

These issues have weighed on the stock as shares in Samsung Electronics have fallen about 14% since late February, when the conflict began. However, the stock is still up 50% since the start of the year.

Some experts believe the recent slowdown in prices will not last.

“We have seen a cooling (in memory chip spot prices) over the last 3-4 weeks, yes. We do believe it’s temporary,” said Tobey Gonnerman, president of Fusion Worldwide. “The demand and backlog remain strong.”

Samsung is still the world’s largest memory chipmaker, with about 40% of the DRAM market and around 35% of NAND flash. Its semiconductor division accounts for more than 70% of total profit, making it the company’s main source of earnings.

The company is also strengthening its focus on AI. It recently agreed to work with Nvidia to produce AI inference processors.

Outside chips, performance is predicted to be weaker. Analysts say Samsung’s contract chip manufacturing business is likely to remain loss-making as it competes with TSMC.

Meanwhile, profits from smartphones and display panels could fall by about half due to high component expenses and stronger competition.

There are also labour concerns at home. Workers in South Korea have called for changes to pay and bonuses and have warned of possible strike action in May.

The stock rose by more than 5% in early trading, and investors reacted quickly after Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, spoke at the company’s GTC developer conference in California.

“I want to thank Samsung who manufactures the Groq LP30 chip for us and they’re cranking as hard as they can,” he said.

He added that the chips are already in production and will be shipped in the second half of the year.

That single update has changed the mindset around Samsung’s chipmaking business. For years, its foundry division has faced challenges, posting heavy losses as it tried to compete with bigger companies. Now, there are new signs of recovery.

At the same event, Samsung displayed the Nvidia chips built on its 4-nanometre process. It also introduced its latest high-bandwidth memory, aimed at handling growing demand from AI systems.

This points to a good working relationship between the two companies, especially as demand for AI chips continues to grow.

Experts say the deal could help Samsung’s foundry unit move closer to breaking even, though there are still challenges. Demand in the mobile market is still weak, and high memory prices could limit profits in the near term.

Even so, the market response shows good reports. Samsung shares were up about 4.3% at one point during the session, after earlier hitting stronger results. The index also moved higher, but not by as much.

There is more to watch this week. AMD chief executive Lisa Su is expected to visit South Korea, where she will meet Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee.

Her visit is also expected to include a tour of Samsung’s chip plant in Pyeongtaek and it would be her first trip to the country since becoming CEO in 2014.

The South Korean chipmaker said on Thursday that the new chips are already being delivered, though it did not name customers. 

This comes as demand for high-bandwidth memory steeply increases, driven by the global build-out of data centres used to train and run advanced artificial intelligence systems.

HBM is a form of dynamic random-access memory designed to handle very large volumes of data at high speed. It has become an essential component in modern AI processors. 

Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker by revenue, has struggled in recent years to keep pace with competitors in earlier generations of the technology.

The company said its HBM4 chips provide a consistent processing speed of 11.7 gigabits per second, about 22% faster than the previous HBM3E version. It added that the chips can reach a maximum speed of 13 gigabits per second, easing data bottlenecks as workloads grow heavier.

Samsung also said it plans to provide samples of its next version, HBM4E, in the second half of the year.

Sources say Samsung began mass production and shipments of HBM4 chips in February 2026, with Nvidia graphics processors among the key targets.

Those chips are expected to power Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin AI accelerator platform, due for launch in the second half of the year.

The HBM4 chips are built on a 4-nanometre logic process and offer capacities between 24 and 36 gigabytes, with plans to scale up to 48 gigabytes. 

Samsung says the new generation delivers up to 3 terabytes per second of bandwidth per stack, roughly 2.4 times that of HBM3E, alongside a 40% improvement in power efficiency and better thermal control.

Competition in the market is getting tighter. SK Hynix said in January that it aims to maintain its “overwhelming” market share in next-generation HBM4 chips, which it said were already in volume production. 

The company added that it plans to achieve production yields for HBM4 in line with those of HBM3E.

Micron has also moved early. The company’s chief financial officer said it is in high-volume production of HBM4 and has begun shipping the chips to customers.

Samsung’s new focus underlines a catch-up initiative after falling behind in earlier HBM cycles. Investors welcomed the update. Samsung shares ended the day up 6.4%.

Memory bandwidth has become just as important as processing power in modern data centres, and demand is not falling behind. Companies are expanding AI capacity worldwide.

This is an important step for Samsung as it tries to close the gap with SK Hynix, its long-time competition and the top supplier of advanced memory used in Nvidia’s accelerators. 

Delays in Samsung’s earlier HBM programmes weighed heavily on its earnings and share price last year. This time, the company is moving faster and with more at stake.

The initial production run is tied to months of qualification testing with Nvidia and AMD. Samsung cleared those tests late last year, opening the door to commercial shipments in early 2026. The company has not disclosed volumes, and it is unclear how quickly supply will scale.

Samsung declined to comment on the development. Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment.

Following the development, Samsung shares rose more than 2% in early trading, while SK Hynix shares slipped by nearly 3%. Investors are reading this as a sign that competition in the HBM market is about to increase.

HBM4 is the sixth generation of high-bandwidth memory, designed to handle the heavy data loads of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. 

Compared with HBM3E, it gives higher bandwidth while using less power. That combination is important as chipmakers push systems harder to train and run ever-larger models.

For Nvidia, memory supply is now a strategic issue, not just a technical one. The company’s next platform, Vera Rubin, is already in production and will rely on HBM4 to achieve its performance targets. 

As Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said earlier this month, the platform is in “full production,” ahead of a launch later this year.

Until now, SK Hynix has carried most of that burden. It supplies the bulk of the HBM used in Nvidia’s current accelerators and has already locked in supply talks with major customers for next year. 

The company is also expanding capacity, with plans to start deploying wafers into its new M15X factory in Cheongju early next month. It has not said whether HBM4 will be part of that first output.

Micron is also pushing into the space, adding pressure to an already tight market. Demand for high-bandwidth memory is surging as data centres scale up, and analysts expect the market to grow sharply over the next few years.

Samsung’s entry into HBM4 production changes the balance. It gives Nvidia and AMD another qualified supplier, reduces the risk of shortages, and may help cool pricing pressures. It is a chance for Samsung to regain ground in a segment it cannot afford to miss.

Both Samsung and SK Hynix are due to report quarterly earnings later this week. Investors will be listening for any detail on HBM4 orders, production timelines and customer commitments.