In the past two years, artificial intelligence (AI) has flourished, and the competition in the high-frequency wide memory (HBM) market has become even more whiter and hotter. SK Hynix HBM3 and HBM3E have become the leader in the DRAM market. Samsung HBM3 suppliers are unfavorable and have not received supply permission from GPU manufacturer NVIDIA, which has affected the acquisition and also lost the industry's first treasure.
According to Wccftech, Samsung's situation has improved after the launch of HBM3E, but it still has the ability to enter the NVIDIA supply chain. Samsung also made plans for HBM4 in advance, hoping to reverse the unfavorable situation with new products. The latest report points out that Samsung is cooperating with AMD and NVIDIA to deliver a 12-layer stacked HBM4 at the end of the month.
The market is a joy to the progress of Samsung HBM4. Samsung 1c process DRAM production has made progress, with a test yield of 50%~70%, which is significantly higher than that of less than 30% by the end of 2024. What Samsung is concerned about is not supplying HBM4 earlier than its competitors, but launching products that can be supplied stably and are used by AMD and NVIDIA products.
In addition to SK Hynix and Samsung, Micron is also eyeing the layout of HBM4. With fierce competition from supply chains, HBM prices may drop. SK Hynix and Samsung plans, HBM4 will enter the volume production stage in several quarters, and prices may decline.