Samsung Electronics Co yesterday announced that it had started mass production of its next-generation memory chips to power artificial intelligence (AI), touting an “industry-leading” breakthrough.
The high-bandwidth HBM4 chips are seen as a key component needed to scale-up the vast data centers powering the explosion in AI.
US technology giant Nvidia Corp — the world’s most valuable company — is widely expected to be one of Samsung’s main buyers.
Photo: AFP
Samsung said it had “begun mass production of its industry-leading HBM4 and has shipped commercial products to customers.”
“This achievement marks a first in the industry, securing an early leadership position in the HBM4 market,” the South Korean company said in a statement.
Samsung said its new chip was significantly faster than older models, exceeding industry standards for processing speed by more than 40 percent.
This would satisfy “escalating demands for higher performance,” the company said.
Samsung and its South Korean rival SK Hynix Inc are already among the leading producers of high-performance memory chips, and the two companies had raced to start HBM4 production.
Research firm SemiAnalysis has reported that Micron Technology Inc might be left off Nvidia’s HBM4 supplier roster, as the battle for HBM4 dominance is heating up. However, the US chipmaker on Wednesday rebutted the report, saying that it is already in high-volume production of HBM4 and has begun shipping to customers.
Speaking at the Wolfe Research conference in New York, Micron chief financial officer Mark Murphy assured investors that the US company is producing its HBM4 memory chips in high volumes and the new product delivers performance exceeding 11 gigabits per second.
In addition, Murphy said that shipment volumes are ramping up in the first quarter, one quarter earlier than the company announced at its earnings call in December last year, Investing.com reported.
Taipei-based research firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) predicts that global memory industry revenue would surge to a peak of more than US$840 billion next year.
Samsung has already earmarked billions of dollars to expand chip production facilities, pledging to continue spending in “transitioning to advanced manufacturing processes and upgrading existing production lines to meet rising demand.”
An industry observer said the move would help Samsung seize the moment in the intensifying race for chips critical to AI infrastructure.
“Samsung struggled in the race for HBM3 chips, lagging behind its rival SK Hynix, but with the early production of HBM4, it has positioned itself as a front-runner in the competition,” Sejong University business professor Kim Dae-jong said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
RSS