Samsung Electronics Officially Expands HBM3E 12-Stack Supply in Second Half... Increased Expectations for Qual Test Pass

"HBM 8-Stack Under Customer Evaluation
12-Stack Ready for Mass Production Ramp-Up"
Focus on Nvidia Qual Test Pass Status
"Confidentiality Agreement Observed," Comments Reserved
Targeting Strong Memory Performance in Second Half Led by HBM

Samsung Electronics has officially announced plans to begin full-scale mass production and supply of its 5th generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) product, HBM3E, starting in the second half of this year. This announcement comes as the company is undergoing quality testing (Qual Test) of the 12-layer HBM3E product with Nvidia, drawing increased attention from the industry.

Samsung Electronics 36GB HBM3E 12-Stack Product. Photo by Samsung Electronics [Image Source=Yonhap News]

On the 31st, during the Q2 earnings conference call, Samsung Electronics stated, "(The 5th generation) HBM3E 8-layer products are currently undergoing normal customer evaluations, and mass production and supply are expected to ramp up in the third quarter." They added, "The industry-first developed and sample-supplied HBM3E 12-layer product has already completed mass production ramp-up preparations, and supply expansion is planned for the second half of the year according to multiple customers' requested schedules."

However, regarding questions about Nvidia's Qual Test, Samsung said, "We are aware of the significant interest from investors and media," but added, "To comply with the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with our customers, we cannot comment on this information."

Although Samsung Electronics remained tight-lipped, industry insiders suggest that Samsung's HBM3E 12-layer product is expected to soon pass Nvidia's Qual Test. Consequently, demand for HBM products is also anticipated to increase significantly. Bloomberg News reported the previous day, citing anonymous sources, that "Samsung Electronics' HBM3E is expected to pass the quality test within 2 to 4 months." Previously, Samsung's 4th generation HBM3 product passed Nvidia's Qual Test and is scheduled for mass production next month.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, visited the Samsung Electronics booth at the annual developer conference 'GTC 2024' held earlier this year in San Jose, USA, and left his autograph on the next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM), HBM3E. Photo by Hanjinman, Vice President of Samsung Electronics, SNS capture [Image source=Yonhap News]

Samsung Electronics also revealed that it expects HBM demand and sales to surge sharply in the second half of the year. A company representative said, "The sales proportion of HBM3E within our HBM lineup is expected to exceed the mid-10% range in the third quarter and rapidly expand to around 60% in the fourth quarter." They added, "Our HBM sales, which increased by the mid-50% range quarter-over-quarter in Q2, are expected to continue steep growth at roughly double each quarter, expanding to a scale exceeding 3 to 5 times compared to the first half of the year in the second half."

Regarding the next generation (6th generation) HBM4, they said, "Development is progressing normally with the goal of shipment in the second half of next year," and "Custom HBM products optimized for customer-specific performance are also under development, and detailed specifications discussions with multiple customers have already begun."

Samsung Electronics appears poised to further tighten its grip on the HBM competition and aims to continue improving semiconductor performance in the second half of the year. The company plans to expand HBM production capacity and increase the sales proportion of HBM3E, while strengthening market competitiveness in the server DRAM sector with high-capacity products such as 1b-nanometer 32Gb (gigabit) DDR5-based 128GB and 256GB modules.

For NAND, Samsung plans to respond promptly to customer demand across server, PC, and mobile sectors based on a QLC SSD lineup optimized for all fields. The System LSI division will focus its capabilities on the stable supply of the flagship Exynos 2500 product. The initial market response to wearable products featuring the industry's first 3-nanometer SoC has been positive, and expansion of SoC adoption models by major clients is expected in the second half. The foundry business anticipates increased demand for AI and high-performance computing products due to a recovery in mobile product demand.