Will the "three-legged" pattern evolve into "one family"?
According to the February 7 report, SK hynix has developed a "One Team Strategy", which includes the development of the sixth-generation HBM chip (HBM4) in cooperation with TSMC.
It is reported that TSMC will be responsible for part of the HBM4 process manufacturing - most likely the packaging process to improve product compatibility.
The advantage of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is that it can directly integrate a dedicated data processor into the DRAM, transferring part of the data computing work from the host processor to the memory, so as to meet the high bandwidth requirements of AI chip training, so HBM is also considered to be the leading storage technology to accelerate the development of next-generation AI technology.
Compared with the previous three generations of HBM, HBM4 is planned to be updated to a wider 2048-bit memory interface to solve the problem of "wide but slow" of the previous 1024-bit memory interface, which requires TSMC's advanced packaging technology to verify the layout and speed of HBM4.
Some industry insiders said to **
"The importance of packaging is expanding in the next generation of AI semiconductors. ”Currently,The HBM market presents a "three-legged" situation: SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron are the only three HBM companies in the world. Industry data shows that in the HBM market in 2022, SK hynix will occupy 50% of the market share, Samsung will account for 40%, and Micron will account for 10%.The collaboration between these two companies, which are considered giants in the market, has had a big impact. ”
Starting in the second half of 2023, SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron** have basically started the testing of HBM3E at the same time, and it is expected to achieve mass production** from the first quarter of 2024.
Wall Street News previously mentioned that SK hynix plans to expand its investment in HBM production facilities to respond to the increased demand for high-performance AI products. The company plans to more than double its investment in through-silicon via (TSV)-related facilities compared to 2023, with an effort to double production capacity, and plans to begin production of its fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory product, HBM3E, in the first half of 2024. In its latest earnings release this year, SK hynix said that it is on track to develop next-generation HBM4 products by making steady progress in preparing to support HBM3E and will promote mass production of HBM3E. There is an opinion thatThe "AI Alliance" is a united front established against Samsung Electronics
According to previous analysis**, after Samsung was verified by Nvidia at the end of 2023, it will expand its HBM3 to NVIDIA from the first quarter of 2024** - before that, Nvidia's HBM was exclusive to SK hynix**, but now Samsung and Micron will join. In addition, SAM Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently visited Samsung Electronics and discussed the development and production of AI semiconductors, which may further highlight the advantages of Samsung Electronics.
Some people in the semiconductor industry said to **
"TSMC and SK hynix have joined forces because they are determined to consolidate their victory over Samsung Electronics in the AI semiconductor market."Samsung Electronics' judicial risks have been partially resolved, but there are still ...... uncertaintiesThe challenges are enormous. ”