AI drives demand for HBM3 to surge, SK Hynix and Samsung have full orders until 2025
Currently, Samsung and SK Hynix are engaged in a fierce battle for supremacy in the HBM3 market, both vying to supply this cutting-edge memory to clients including industry giants Nvidia and AMD. Both companies have witnessed a surge in orders from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, with market demand potentially exceeding initial expectations.
According to ZDNet Korea, due to the increased demand for computation cards like Nvidia’s H100, there has been a significant impact on the production capacity arrangements of memory manufacturers. This year has seen a general slump in the memory semiconductor market; however, the spike in demand for high-value products like HBM3 may offset the slowdown in other product categories for memory manufacturers. This has prompted both Samsung and SK Hynix to shift their developmental focus and intensify their investments in HBM3. SK Hynix has indicated that their HBM3 order books are filled for 2024, and Samsung is reportedly experiencing a similar situation.
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) involves stacking multiple DRAM chips vertically, offering faster data transfer speeds, higher bandwidth, and greater capacity compared to traditional DRAM. The HBM DRAM product line has evolved through a series of generations, namely HBM, HBM2, HBM2E, HBM3, and the forthcoming HBM3E, which is an extended version of HBM3. SK Hynix announced the successful development of HBM3E in August of this year, and Samsung followed last month with the launch of their own HBM3E variant named “Shinebolt.”
SK Hynix currently leads the market for HBM products, commanding the largest market share. They have recently secured orders from Nvidia and AMD and have begun providing samples to customers for performance validation. Samsung, on the other hand, intends to leverage its status as an integrated semiconductor solutions provider by offering customized services that combine next-generation HBM, advanced packaging technologies, and foundry products to compete with SK Hynix for market share.
