Samsung will provide Nvidia HBM3 and 2.5D packaging for AI GPU

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC), and Personal Computers have been driving the advancement of sophisticated process technologies and packaging techniques, with market demand swiftly escalating. Particularly in the past few months, a fervor has been ignited globally for AI tools led by ChatGPT, causing a dramatic surge in demand for data center GPUs like NVIDIA’s A100 and H100.

Presently, NVIDIA’s A100 and H100 data center GPUs, among others, are manufactured and packaged by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), with SK Hynix supplying the HBM3 chips. Given that both NVIDIA and TSMC previously underestimated the market demand for data center GPUs, the existing packaging facilities have proven inadequate. TSMC has urgently ordered new packaging equipment, aiming to expand 2.5D packaging capacity by more than 40% to accommodate NVIDIA’s ceaselessly growing demand. Despite these measures, TSMC has been unable to address the pressing issue, and according to The Elec, NVIDIA is negotiating quantities and prices with several suppliers to delegate a portion of the workload.

Samsung established the Advanced Packaging Team (AVP) towards the end of last year, with the aim of broadening the revenue of its chip packaging business. Samsung has proposed to NVIDIA that it can receive the manufactured chips from TSMC, then purchase HBM3 from Samsung’s memory business department, and employ Samsung’s I-Cube 2.5D packaging for subsequent operations. Samsung has pledged to allocate a substantial number of engineers to this project to accomplish the associated tasks.

It is understood that this arrangement could allow Samsung to secure around 10% of the order volume for NVIDIA’s data center GPU packaging business. However, prior to accepting the order, Samsung must pass NVIDIA’s quality testing for HBM3 and 2.5D packaging. Samsung plans to mass-produce HBM3 later this year and rumors suggest customer evaluations have been favorable. Consequently, it is anticipated that the HBM3 and HBM3P chips will begin to contribute to Samsung’s revenue next year.