Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, stated that "we are working as quickly as possible to obtain approval for Samsung Electronics' AI memory chip supply," Bloomberg reported.
According to the report, on the 23rd (local time), Huang, who attended the honorary doctorate degree ceremony at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told Bloomberg TV this. Huang added that they are considering receiving supplies of both the 8-stack and 12-stack versions of the 5th generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), HBM3E, from Samsung Electronics.
Samsung Electronics announced during its Q3 earnings conference call on the 31st of last month that "both the HBM3E 8-stack and 12-stack are currently in mass production and sales," and that "significant progress has been made in completing important stages of quality testing with major customers, and sales expansion is expected in Q4."
However, Bloomberg reported that although Huang mentioned memory suppliers such as SK Hynix and Micron during the recent Q3 (August to October) earnings conference call, Samsung Electronics was not mentioned.
Currently, NVIDIA receives most of its HBM supply from SK Hynix. However, for Samsung Electronics to ride the AI semiconductor rally, it must supply HBM to NVIDIA, and from NVIDIA's perspective, considering price negotiation power and supply, the industry's evaluation is that Samsung's HBM supply is necessary.
While visiting Hong Kong, Huang received an honorary doctorate degree in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. In a subsequent discussion, he said, "We do not know what will happen with the new (U.S.) administration, but we will balance advancing technology and supporting global customers while complying with laws and policies," emphasizing that even if the second Trump administration strengthens export controls on advanced computing products, global cooperation in technology will continue.
Huang's remarks on this day are interpreted as being conscious of the possibility that export controls to China may be further tightened under the next administration. The U.S. has restricted sales of advanced technology to China for national security reasons through the first Trump administration and the Joe Biden administration. As a result, NVIDIA, which controls about 90% of the global AI chip market, is currently selling the 'H20,' which has one-fifth the computing power of its flagship chip 'H100,' to China instead.
Huang praised, "China has contributed to AI development," and "especially the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is opening the doors of scientific research in China and contributing to global AI advancement." He also expressed expectations that "the goal of AI is not training but inference," and that "AI will be able to discover new methods for carbon dioxide storage, new wind turbine designs, new electrical storage materials, and more."
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