3 Before 9: Samsung Lands Groq 3 LPU Deal, Asian Automakers Go L4, Coupang Builds AI Factory

1. Samsung Lands Groq 3 LPU Manufacturing Deal as NVIDIA Bets Big on Inference

Samsung Electronics will manufacture NVIDIA's new Groq 3 Language Processing Unit, the inference-focused chip that emerged from NVIDIA's USD 20 billion acquisition of Groq last December. Jensen Huang confirmed the partnership on stage at GTC 2026 in San Jose on 16 March, sending Samsung shares up as much as 5.3 per cent. The Groq 3 LPU uses on-chip SRAM rather than traditional high-bandwidth memory, enabling faster data transfer and better power efficiency for inference workloads. Samsung has already ramped wafer production from roughly 9,000 to 15,000 units on its 4-nanometre process, with commercial shipments expected in Q3 2026. The Korean chipmaker also unveiled its seventh-generation HBM4E memory at the same event, doubling down on its position in the AI silicon supply chain.

Why it matters: This is a significant win for Samsung's foundry division, which has struggled to compete with TSMC for leading-edge AI chip orders. Securing a marquee NVIDIA contract strengthens Korea's role as a critical node in the global AI hardware supply chain and gives Samsung a foothold in the fast-growing inference market, where demand from Asian hyperscalers and enterprise buyers is accelerating.

2. BYD, Geely, Hyundai and Nissan Adopt NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion for Level 4 Vehicles

Four major Asian automakers - China's BYD and Geely, Korea's Hyundai, and Japan's Nissan - have committed to building level 4 autonomous vehicles on NVIDIA's DRIVE Hyperion platform. The announcement, made at GTC 2026, marks the broadest adoption yet of NVIDIA's standardised autonomous driving architecture by Asian manufacturers. Level 4 vehicles can operate without human intervention under defined conditions, a significant step beyond the assisted-driving features currently shipping in most markets. NVIDIA also introduced Halos OS, a safety architecture designed to provide a universal foundation for production-ready autonomy, and an updated Alpamayo 1.5 open model with improved multi-camera support. Separately, mobility platforms including Singapore's Grab confirmed they are leveraging the DRIVE Hyperion stack for their own autonomous vehicle programmes.

Why it matters: Asia's largest car manufacturers are now aligned on a single autonomous driving compute platform, which could accelerate the path to robotaxis and autonomous freight across the region. For Southeast Asian ride-hailing operators like Grab, the standardised architecture lowers the barrier to deploying autonomous fleets. Regulators in China, Korea and Japan will face mounting pressure to finalise L4 operating frameworks as these vehicles move toward production.

3. Coupang Builds AI Factory With NVIDIA to Supercharge Rocket Delivery

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has built what it calls an "AI factory" in collaboration with NVIDIA, combining its proprietary Coupang Intelligent Cloud with NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD infrastructure. The company presented results of the partnership at GTC 2026, revealing it has also signed on as a launch partner for NVIDIA's Dynamo, an open-source inference operating system designed to maximise GPU utilisation within data centres. By adopting Dynamo, Coupang expects to increase its data processing throughput by up to 30 times. The additional compute power will be directed at demand forecasting and delivery route optimisation, the twin engines behind Coupang's signature "Rocket Delivery" service that promises next-day or same-day fulfilment across Korea.

Why it matters: Coupang is the first major Asian e-commerce player to publicly adopt NVIDIA's full-stack AI factory approach, signalling a shift in how the region's logistics operators think about infrastructure investment. For enterprise buyers across Asia-Pacific, this is a concrete case study in how inference-scale AI translates to operational gains. Competitors in Southeast Asia and Japan will be watching whether Coupang's 30x throughput claim delivers measurable improvements in delivery speed and cost.