NVIDIA is the world's leading supplier of AI accelerators. It has a borderline monopoly on the market right now as it accounted for 97.2% of the sector last year. The company has invested considerably in its next-gen AI accelerators to maintain this dominance even as rivals amp up their efforts for a piece of the pie.
As a supplier of high-bandwidth memory solutions used in these AI chips, Samsung stands to benefit if NVIDIA or others buy chips from it. With NVIDIA potentially facing delays in mass production of its next-gen accelerators, Samsung stands to benefit if those that it has alliances with step up to fill the gap.
NVIDIA expects a three-month delay in Blackwell-based AI chips
NVIDIA has reportedly informed Microsoft and other top customers that its next-generation Blackwell AI accelerator shipments have been delayed by three months, potentially even more, due to flaws in the design. Reports suggest that the processor die used to connect the two Blackwell GPUs on the GB200 has a flaw that will take some time to rectify.
Tech companies like Microsoft and Google can't get enough of these AI accelerators as they develop new solutions that require much greater processing power. They're expected to look for a replacement from AMD with which both companies have already been developing next-gen chips. Microsoft has already purchased AMD's MI300X AI accelerators.
Major tech companies are already concerned about over reliance on one company, NVIDIA, for their AI accelerator needs, even as they've ordered billions worth of GB200s from NVIDIA. If AMD sells more of its AI accelerators, that results in more money in Samsung's pocket, as it supplies fourth-generation HBM3 chips to AMD and is also on track to supply advanced HBM3E memory modules to the US-based chip designer.
Even if NVIDIA manages to get the Blackwell project back on track, Samsung stands to benefit from that as well, since it's been trying to win approval from NVIDIA to supply it with HBM3E memory as well. Whatever happens, Samsung's got itself in a good position to cash in on the AI boom.