Over the past couple of years, Samsung lost billions of dollars in revenue due to lingering issues with its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The company is now planning to set things right. The South Korean firm plans to complete the development of HBM4 chips in the first half of this year.
Samsung's HBM4 memory chip development has been preponed by six months
According to reports from South Korea, Samsung has internally set a goal to complete the Production Readiness Approval (PRA) procedure for HBM4 chips within the first half of the year. PRA is the first step for mass production. Once PRA is achieved, the chips will meet Samsung's internal standards for mass production.
This timeline is six months ahead of Samsung's earlier plan to achieve PRA by the end of this year. The company had also planned to mass-produce fifth-generation HBM (HBM3E) for Nvidia and other clients in the first half of this year. However, those plans seem to have changed.
It is reported that Nvidia has influenced Samsung's decision to prepone HBM4 production readiness, as it has planned to announce its next-generation AI accelerator (codenamed Rubin) in the third quarter of this year. Nvidia's original plan was to launch Rubin chips in early 2026.
Each Rubin AI accelerator chip is reportedly equipped with four HBM4 memory chips.
SK Hynix could spoil Samsung's party once again
SK Hynix, Samsung's local (and biggest) rival in the memory chip space, also seems to be ready to launch HBM4 chips by the time Nvidia is ready to launch Rubin chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly met SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in November 2024 and requested to fast-track HBM4 chip development.
Chey Tae-won revealed during CES 2025 that SK Hynix's HBM4 development speed is slightly exceeding Nvidia's expectations. This suggests that SK Hynix has made considerable progress in the development of HBM4 chips. This could once again prove to be bad for Samsung, which is trailing its rivals in the memory segment, which was once considered Samsung's forte.
Samsung has reportedly planned to use 10nm 6th generation (1c) DRAM for its HBM4 chips. Samsung secured yields (proportion of certifiable chips from all the chips manufactured) for the first time in October 2024, and it is now trying hard to improve yields further.
It is critical that Samsung achieves enough yield and doesn't face any heating or performance issues with its HBM4 chips. If the company succeeds with HBM4, the company's outlook will be really positive.
Image Credits: Samsung
