Samsung and SK Hynix have maintained their leading positions in the global NAND flash market during the second quarter while simultaneously narrowing the technological gap in high-bandwidth memory production. The developments underscore the ongoing rivalry between the South Korean semiconductor giants across critical chip segments.
The latest IEEE Hot Chips conference showcased a renewed industry focus on hardware optimization, featuring breakthroughs in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and three-dimensional DRAM architectures for AI workloads.
An analyst suggests that Nvidia's decision to downgrade certain chip capabilities could lead to increased consumption of high-bandwidth memory, potentially benefiting Micron.
The KORU 3X South Korea Bull ETF is surging following news regarding SK Hynix's HBM4 technology. This indicates a positive market reaction to developments in the high-bandwidth memory sector.
The global AI boom is causing a capacity crunch in mature-node semiconductors, leading to a surge in orders for Chinese foundries as overseas rivals prioritize high-margin AI chips and high-bandwidth memory.
SK hynix is projected to report over 40 trillion won ($27 billion) in operating profit for the first quarter, driven by increased memory prices and robust demand for high-bandwidth memory.
Micron's stock saw an uptick as the company announced it is increasing production of its HBM4 memory, specifically designed for integration with Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin platform, signaling advancements in high-bandwidth memory technology.
Hanwha Semitech said Wednesday it has developed a second-generation hybrid bonder, a key technology for next-generation semiconductor packaging, and plans to deliver the equipment to customers for performance testing in the first half of this year. Hybrid bonders are regarded as a critical technology for improving the performance and manufacturing efficiency of high-bandwidth memory, a core component of AI accelerators. The South Korean-based chip equipment maker said the new system, dubbed SHB2
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are locked in a race to mass-produce sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, but Chinese rivals are making gains elsewhere — flooding the legacy DRAM market with chips priced at roughly half the going rate. According to industry sources on Friday, China’s top DRAM manufacturer CXMT has been offering older-generation DDR4 chips at about half the prevailing market rate. The move comes as global supply shortages have driven prices sharply higher, allowing the compan
Memory manufacturer CXMT has started small-scale production of high-bandwidth memory chips and is conducting tests with domestic AI developers, intensifying competition for Samsung and SK hynix.
SK Hynix has officially begun construction on a $4 billion high-bandwidth memory packaging and production complex in Indiana. The new facility marks a major expansion of American semiconductor manufacturing capacity for artificial intelligence applications.
SK Hynix, a leading high-bandwidth memory maker, is committing $720 billion to construct new memory factories across South Korea to meet the surging global demand for AI-related memory chips.
Samsung and SK Hynix are expanding their binding memory supply deals amidst a prolonged shortage, as Samsung aims to overtake SK Hynix in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market. SK Hynix has been a leader in modern memory chips, but Samsung is poised to challenge its dominance.
SK Hynix has announced it has shipped samples of its 12-layer next-generation HBM4E chips to major customers, positioning the company alongside Samsung in the race for advanced AI memory technology. This move signifies a key development in the competitive landscape of high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence.
SK Hynix Inc. has placed an order worth 44.2 billion won (US$28.7 million) for new high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production equipment from Hanmi Semiconductor, indicating a potential expansion of HBM4 product manufacturing.
SK Hynix, a major memory chipmaker, is reportedly planning to invest nearly $13 billion in a new manufacturing facility in South Korea. The investment aims to meet the surging global demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
Despite potential challenges, the ongoing bottleneck in High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) supply is identified as a factor that could still lead to a significant rise in Micron's stock.
SK Chairman Warns Global Memory Crunch May Last Until 2030
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won warned that the global high-bandwidth memory crunch, driven by AI data center buildouts, will last until the end of the decade.
Chey told reporters on the sidelines of Nvidia's annual developer conference, 'GTC 2026,' at the San Jose Convention Center in California on Monday that the memory chip shortage could last another four to five years, with supply unlikely to catch up to demand until...
A meeting between Goldman Sachs and a leading memory supplier suggests that prices for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) are likely to increase as the existing crunch in the market worsens.
Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC "May Be Out-Of-Stock" As Great Memory Crunch Deepens
The high-bandwidth memory (HBM) crunch is finally being noticed by mainstream consumers. It's not just
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is reportedly considering Intel as a supplier for base dies in its upcoming HBM4E high-bandwidth memory products. The potential partnership could reshape the advanced semiconductor supply chain and reduce reliance on rival foundry TSMC.
SK hynix stock climbed as the company expands production capacity for high-bandwidth memory chips critical to advancing artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Samsung's price-to-earnings premium over SK Hynix is projected to increase, driven by Samsung's anticipated gains in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market share.
Nvidia is aggressively securing high-bandwidth memory, an essential component for its GPUs and systems, from SK Hynix as part of a significant AI deal.
SK hynix has unveiled a new packaging technology, iHBM, which integrates cooling channels directly into its high-bandwidth memory chips to address the critical heat management challenges facing next-generation AI memory.
SK hynix held a groundbreaking ceremony for its P&T7 advanced packaging facility in Cheongju, which will focus on next-generation AI memory like high-bandwidth memory.
Micron Technology has announced the commencement of volume shipments for its new HBM4 36GB 12H high-bandwidth memory, marking a significant product milestone.
Memory Crunch Will Spark "Tsunami-Like Shock" On Global Smartphone Shipments
Readers have been briefed on the emerging global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply crunch, driven by…
Google's AI boss Demis Hassabis said the memory market came down to "a few suppliers of a few key components."
PONTUS LUNDAHL/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said that the "whole supply chain" for memory chips is constrained.
"You need a lot of chips to be able to experiment on new ideas," Hassabis told CNBC.
Google produces its own TPUs, but Hassabis said that there were still "key components" that were supply-constrained.
The memory shortage takes no prisoners. Even Google isn't immune.
AI companies are duking it out for greater and greater quantities of memory chips. The problem? The industry is heavily supply-constrained. Costs have skyrocketed, products have been tied up, and some companies — especially those in consumer electronics — are increasing prices.
On the AI front, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told CNBC that physical challenges were "constraining a lot of deployment." Google sees "so much more demand" for Gemini and its other models than it could serve, he said.
"Also, it does constrain a little bit the research," Hassabis said. "You need a lot of chips to be able to experiment on new ideas at a big enough scale that you can actually see if they're going to work."
Researchers want chips, whether they work at Google, Meta, OpenAI, or other Big Tech companies, and memory is a key component. Mark Zuckerberg said that AI researchers demanded two things beyond money: the fewest number of people reporting to them, and the most chips possible.
Hassabis said that wherever there was a capacity constraint, there was a "choke point."
"The whole supply chain is kind of strained," Hassabis said. "We're lucky, because we have our own TPUs, so we have our own chip designs."
Google has long built TPUs — Tensor Processing Units — for internal use. The company also leases them to external customers through its cloud, which has also put Nvidia on edge.
But even access to their own TPUs won't save Google from having to navigate the highly competitive memory market. "It still, in the end, actually comes down to a few suppliers of a few key components," Hassabis said.
Three suppliers dominate memory chip production: Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix. These companies are struggling to meet demand for chips from AI hyperscalers without dropping their longtime electronics customers.
It doesn't help that AI companies mainly want a different type of memory chip than PC manufacturers do. Large language model producers want HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips.
Don't expect Google's spending on AI infrastructure and chips to go down anytime soon. On its fourth-quarter earnings call, the company projected capital expenditures of $175 billion to $185 billion for 2026.
Read the original article on Business Insider