Samsung's 8-layer HBM3E Product Passes NVIDIA's Test, Aiming to Supply in 2024 Q4
TapTechNews August 7th news, according to Reuters reports, informed sources said that Samsung Electronics' fifth-generation 8-layer HBM3E product has passed NVIDIA's test and can be used in the latter's artificial intelligence processor.
Informed sources indicated that Samsung and NVIDIA have not yet signed the supply agreement for the approved 8-layer HBM3E chip, but an agreement will be reached soon and supply is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, Samsung's 12-layer HBM3E chip version has not passed NVIDIA's test.
This passing of the test is a major breakthrough for Samsung, the world's largest memory chip manufacturer. Previously, Samsung has been lagging behind its local competitor SK Hynix in the competition to supply advanced memory chips capable of handling generative AI work.
HBM is a standard of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), which was first produced in 2013 and saves space and reduces power consumption by vertically stacking chips. As a key component of AI Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), it helps process the massive data generated by complex applications.
With the strong demand for high-end GPUs triggered by the generative AI boom, NVIDIA and other AI chip manufacturers are all striving to meet the market demand, and the approval of Samsung's latest HBM chip by NVIDIA comes at this time.
The research institute TrendForce said that HBM3E chip may become the mainstream HBM product this year, and shipments are concentrated in the second half of the year. Industry leader SK Hynix expects that the demand for the entire HBM memory chip may grow at a rate of 82% per year until 2027.
Samsung predicted in July that HBM3E chips will account for 60% of its HBM chip sales in the fourth quarter, and many analysts believe that if its latest HBM chip can pass NVIDIA's final approval in the third quarter, this goal may be achieved.
Samsung does not provide revenue breakdown for specific chip products. According to a survey of 15 analysts by Reuters, Samsung's total DRAM chip revenue in the first half of this year was 22.5 trillion won (TapTechNews note: currently about 117.63 billion Chinese yuan), and about 10% of it may come from HBM sales.
There are only three main manufacturers of HBM: SK Hynix, Micron, and Samsung. SK Hynix has always been the main HBM chip supplier for NVIDIA and supplied HBM3E chips to an unnamed customer in late March. Sources previously said that these chips were supplied to NVIDIA. Micron also said it will supply HBM3E chips to NVIDIA.