SK Hynix Strengthens Partnership with NVIDIA
Advances Mass Production Roadmap for HBM4 and HBM4E
As US-based Nvidia sets new records, including becoming the top company by market capitalization during trading hours, the valuation of its key supplier SK Hynix is also rising. SK Hynix's stock price has been hitting new highs daily, with its market capitalization surpassing 175 trillion won as of the 19th. SK Hynix is strengthening its relationship with Nvidia by increasing its market dominance, including advancing the mass production timeline of next-generation HBM.
SK Hynix completed development last year and started mass production of HBM3E this year. / Photo by SK Hynix
According to the semiconductor industry on the 19th, SK Hynix is accelerating the implementation of the next-generation HBM roadmap, including HBM4 and HBM4E. The original plans to mass-produce HBM4 in 2026 and HBM4E in 2027 have been moved up by one year each. HBM4 is now targeted for mass production next year, and HBM4E is aimed for 2026, with detailed development underway. This adjustment aligns with Nvidia’s AI accelerator release cycle, which has shortened from two years to one year, and SK Hynix is keeping pace accordingly.
HBM4 will offer a 40% increase in bandwidth compared to the previous generation HBM3E, while reducing power consumption to about 70%. Meanwhile, integration density will increase by 1.3 times. Starting with HBM4, some logic processes will be included in the manufacturing process, deepening the cooperation between SK Hynix and Taiwanese foundry company TSMC. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to HBM4 development last April, signaling their intent to jointly respond to Nvidia’s requests.
SK Hynix has been expanding its market dominance by supplying multiple generations of products such as HBM2E, HBM3, and HBM3E to Nvidia. Thanks to this, it has solidified its position as the top supplier for Nvidia in the HBM market. According to market research firm TrendForce, last year SK Hynix held a 53% share of the global HBM market, ahead of Samsung Electronics (38%) and US-based Micron (9%). Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, mentioned SK Hynix first as an HBM supplier at both the ‘GTC 2024’ held in the US last March and ‘Computex 2024’ held in Taiwan this month.
SK Hynix opened the door to the related market by being the first in the world to develop HBM in 2013. Although Samsung Electronics, a competitor, announced the development of the next generation HBM2 earlier in 2015, SK Hynix continued its technological development by launching HBM2 in 2016 and HBM2E in 2019. In the early stages of HBM development, SK Hynix collaborated with US-based AMD to enhance product technology, but as subsequent products were introduced, the proportion of supplies to Nvidia increased, strengthening their close relationship.
An industry insider explained, "SK Hynix first mass-produced HBM3 in 2022 when HBM was not yet receiving much attention in the market and supplied it to the H100 (Nvidia AI accelerator model). From that point, a significant lock-in effect likely began."
At the group level, HBM is regarded as an important business and is being actively managed. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in the US last April to discuss related business. At that time, he posted a photo of their meeting on his social media, showing their close relationship. The photo included a message from CEO Huang to Chairman Chey that read, “For a partnership creating the future of AI and humanity together!” which drew attention.
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