SK Hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor have established an AI chip alliance to collaborate on the development of HBM4.

Will the "tri-polar" pattern evolve into a "monopoly"?

According to media reports on February 7th, SK Hynix has formulated a "One Team Strategy," which includes a collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor to develop the sixth-generation HBM chip (HBM4).

It is reported that Taiwan Semiconductor will be responsible for part of the HBM4 process manufacturing, most likely the packaging process, to enhance product compatibility.

The advantage of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is that it can integrate dedicated data processors directly into DRAM, transferring some data processing tasks from the host processor to the memory, thereby meeting the high bandwidth requirements of AI chip training. Therefore, HBM is also considered the leading storage technology to accelerate the development of next-generation AI technology.

Compared to the previous three generations of HBM, HBM4 is planned to be updated with a wider 2048-bit memory interface to solve the problem of the previous 1024-bit memory interface being "wide but slow." This requires Taiwan Semiconductor's advanced packaging technology to validate the layout and speed of HBM4.

An industry insider told the media:

"The importance of packaging is expanding in the next generation of AI semiconductors."

"The cooperation between these two companies, which are considered market giants, has a significant impact."

Currently, the HBM market presents a "tri-polar" situation: SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron are the only three HBM suppliers in the world. Industry data shows that in the 2022 HBM market, SK Hynix occupies a 50% market share, Samsung Electronics accounts for 40%, and Micron accounts for 10%.

Starting from the second half of 2023, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron, the three HBM suppliers, have synchronously started testing HBM3E, and it is expected to achieve mass production from the first quarter of 2024.

Huawei Wall Street previously mentioned that SK Hynix plans to expand its HBM production facility investment to meet the increasing demand for high-performance AI products. The company plans to more than double its investment in facilities related to Through Silicon Via (TSV) compared to 2023, aiming to double its production capacity and plans to start production of its fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory product, HBM3E, in the first half of 2024.

In its latest earnings report released this year, SK Hynix stated that the company is steadily making progress in preparing for HBM3E support and will promote mass production of HBM3E. It is on track to develop the next-generation HBM4 product. There is a viewpoint that the "AI Alliance" is a united front against Samsung Electronics.

Previously, it was predicted that after Nvidia's validation by the end of 2023, Samsung Electronics will expand its supply of HBM3 to Nvidia starting from the first quarter of 2024. Prior to this, Nvidia's HBM was exclusively supplied by SK Hynix, but now Samsung Electronics and Micron will also join.

In addition, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, recently visited Samsung Electronics to discuss the development and production of AI semiconductors, further highlighting the advantages of Samsung Electronics.

According to industry insiders in the semiconductor industry:

"Taiwan Semiconductor and SK Hynix are joining forces to consolidate their victory over Samsung Electronics in the AI semiconductor market."

"The legal risks for Samsung Electronics have been partially resolved, but there is still uncertainty... facing significant challenges."