Samsung was in a spot of worry a few months ago, as its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips hadn't received Nvidia's certification for months. A few weeks ago, Samsung's HBM3 chips reportedly received Nvidia's certification for the Chinese market. However, even before the certification, Chinese firms had been reportedly stockpiling Samsung's HBM chips for months.
Chinese firms Baidu and Huawei have been reportedly stockpiling Samsung HBM chips for AI accelerators
According to a report from Reuters, Chinese tech giants Baidu and Huawei have been buying HBM chips from Samsung since earlier this year. The companies ramped up their purchases in anticipation of possible US curbs on exporting critical semiconductor chips to Chinese firms. The report claims that Chinese firms account for nearly 30% of Samsung's HBM chip sales globally.
It is reported that US authorities are planning to impose additional restrictions on chip shipments to China. The US already has curbs that restrict semiconductor chip firms from exporting 5nm (or more advanced) chips to be sold to Chinese firms. Newer export rules from the US may have specific parameters to restrict the export of HBM chips, which are crucial in AI processing.
Almost all AI accelerators, including AMD and Nvidia ones, are paired with HBM memory chips for faster data transfer. The only firms in the world that make HBM chips are Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix. While HBM3E is the most advanced HBM chip right now, Chinese firms have been primarily buying HBM2E chips, which are two generations older.
Since Micron's and SK Hynix's HBM manufacturing capacities have been fully booked by US-based tech firms, Chinese firms are dependent on Samsung's HBM chips. Haawking and Tencent are also said to be among those who bought Samsung's HBM chips. If the US brings additional restrictions on the supply of HBM chips to the Chinese market, Samsung might face business issues.
Apparently, Chinese firm CXMT has been developing HBM2-grade memory chips that are three generations behind. By the time they start using homemade HBM2 chips, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix would have released HBM4 chips.
Image Credits: Samsung
