Jenith
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Despite being the world’s biggest memory chip maker for decards, Samsung missed the high-bandwidth (HBM) boat when the AI boom started in 2022. As a result, rivals Micron and SK Hynix dominated the supply of HBM chips for this lucrative market. Now, Samsung is determined to avoid repeating its 2022 mistake and is actively improving the performance of its HBM chips.
It needs to improve the performance and yield of its HBM4 chips.
Samsung's HBM3E chips had overheating issues, which is the reason they didn't pass Nvidia's quality benchmarks. By the time its HBM3E chips were redesigned, SK Hynix captured a majority of market share, and Micron became the second biggest supplier. While Samsung's redesigned HBM3E chips finally received Nvidia's approval, it had to lower the prices of those chips by 30% compared to its rivals.
Samsung then invested significant effort and money to develop its HBM4 chips. While Micron and SK Hynix used 1b DRAM chips for their HBM4 chips, Samsung opted for 1c DRAM. It uses the 10nm-class 6th generation process to make core DRAM chips. These chips are then stacked to form an HBM4 chip. The finer circuit line width of 1c DRAM is expected to enhance the speed and power efficiency compared to 1b DRAM (10nm-class 5th generation process). So, Samsung’s HBM4 chips are expected to outperform those from its competitors.
SK Hynix's 12-layer HBM3E chips are priced at around $300, while 12-layer HBM4 chips are reportedly priced around $500. That is a 50% price hike from HBM3E chips to HBM4 chips.
Samsung is reportedly targeting to match SK Hynix's pricing for its HBM4 chips. Nvidia and Samsung are reportedly in the final stages of negotiations right now. Nvidia has no choice but to buy those chips from Samsung even at a higher price, as its demand for HBM4 chips far surpasses the production capacity of all HBM suppliers.
Samsung is also now planning to increase the production capacity of 1c DRAM chips from 20,000 wafers per month to 150,000 wafers per month by next year. To make this happen, the company is reportedly converting some of the existing mature DRAM production lines to 1C DRAM production lines.
Currently, Samsung's HBM4 yield stands at 50%, but that isn't enough. In the HBM space, yield is said to be more important than performance, so Samsung needs to work hard to improve its yield before mass production starts next year.
Nvidia's quality assessment results for Samsung's HBM4 chips could be out in the next few days. Then, Samsung has to swiftly send mass production samples to Nvidia, and the qualification results of those chips will be out early next year. If everything goes according to Samsung's plan, it can start mass production of HBM4 chips and start supplying them in the second or third quarter of 2026.
Since Samsung has used a superior technology and has more money to invest, it is expected that it will capture similar market share to SK Hynix. Since the price of HBM4 is higher and the general prices of DRAM chips has increased significantly over the past few months, Samsung will earn billions of dollars by selling its DRAM and HBM chips over the next few years.
The post Samsung is making sure it doesn’t repeat its grave mistake from 2022 appeared first on imeisource.
It needs to improve the performance and yield of its HBM4 chips.
Samsung has used a superior technology to make its HBM4 chips
Samsung's HBM3E chips had overheating issues, which is the reason they didn't pass Nvidia's quality benchmarks. By the time its HBM3E chips were redesigned, SK Hynix captured a majority of market share, and Micron became the second biggest supplier. While Samsung's redesigned HBM3E chips finally received Nvidia's approval, it had to lower the prices of those chips by 30% compared to its rivals.
Samsung then invested significant effort and money to develop its HBM4 chips. While Micron and SK Hynix used 1b DRAM chips for their HBM4 chips, Samsung opted for 1c DRAM. It uses the 10nm-class 6th generation process to make core DRAM chips. These chips are then stacked to form an HBM4 chip. The finer circuit line width of 1c DRAM is expected to enhance the speed and power efficiency compared to 1b DRAM (10nm-class 5th generation process). So, Samsung’s HBM4 chips are expected to outperform those from its competitors.
SK Hynix's 12-layer HBM3E chips are priced at around $300, while 12-layer HBM4 chips are reportedly priced around $500. That is a 50% price hike from HBM3E chips to HBM4 chips.
Samsung is reportedly targeting to match SK Hynix's pricing for its HBM4 chips. Nvidia and Samsung are reportedly in the final stages of negotiations right now. Nvidia has no choice but to buy those chips from Samsung even at a higher price, as its demand for HBM4 chips far surpasses the production capacity of all HBM suppliers.
Samsung is also now planning to increase the production capacity of 1c DRAM chips from 20,000 wafers per month to 150,000 wafers per month by next year. To make this happen, the company is reportedly converting some of the existing mature DRAM production lines to 1C DRAM production lines.
Samsung is working hard to improve the yield of HBM4 chips
Currently, Samsung's HBM4 yield stands at 50%, but that isn't enough. In the HBM space, yield is said to be more important than performance, so Samsung needs to work hard to improve its yield before mass production starts next year.
Nvidia's quality assessment results for Samsung's HBM4 chips could be out in the next few days. Then, Samsung has to swiftly send mass production samples to Nvidia, and the qualification results of those chips will be out early next year. If everything goes according to Samsung's plan, it can start mass production of HBM4 chips and start supplying them in the second or third quarter of 2026.
Since Samsung has used a superior technology and has more money to invest, it is expected that it will capture similar market share to SK Hynix. Since the price of HBM4 is higher and the general prices of DRAM chips has increased significantly over the past few months, Samsung will earn billions of dollars by selling its DRAM and HBM chips over the next few years.
The post Samsung is making sure it doesn’t repeat its grave mistake from 2022 appeared first on imeisource.