According to Digitimes, memory chip giant Samsung Electronics will offer a 30% price cut on its 12-layer HBM3E memory chips in an attempt to capture market share.
The logic behind the "price war" is that Samsung's slow product yield ramp-up has led to a lagging market share. It wasn't until September of this year that Samsung's 12-layer HBM3E product passed NVIDIA's review. Testing has begun and supplies have officially started, with shipments expected to reach tens of thousands of units in the fourth quarter of this year.
Samsung's HBM3E shipments are still significantly behind those of memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix and Micron. Public information shows that as early as 2024, SK Hynix had passed yield testing and confirmed its supply of HBM3E products to Nvidia . In the first half of this year, it even achieved mass production and supply of 16-layer HBM3E. In addition, there are reports that in June this year, Micron's HBM3E yield had improved to over 70%, and its expected shipments exceeded 8-layer HBM3E.
Faced with significantly lower yield rates and market share, Samsung was reportedly considering a price reduction proposal for HBM3E to some customers in July of this year to facilitate commercial cooperation . At the time, Samsung warned that the supply growth rate of HBM3E would exceed the demand growth rate, and the supply-demand relationship was expected to change. Market prices could also be affected in the short term.
However, in terms of product iteration trends, HBM3E is merely a high-bandwidth memory... The fifth generation of the series. At this point in time, the sixth generation of the high-bandwidth memory series—HBM4—may be launched soon.
Reports this month indicate that Samsung is accelerating the development of HBM4, planning to unveil its sixth-generation 12-layer HBM4 at Samsung Tech Show 2025 from October 27th to 31st, with mass production planned for later this year. Regarding other memory manufacturers, SK Hynix announced in September that it had completed the development of the world's first HBM4 and was ready for mass production.
Behind HBM4's complete replacement of older products lies the focus of tech giants like Nvidia on AI chips. A complete upgrade to the architecture. As early as last year, Jensen Huang announced the launch of the Blackwell Ultra AI chip , which would use HBM4 memory.
According to a recent survey by TrendForce, Nvidia has been actively demanding that key component suppliers for the Vera Rubin server rack improve product specifications, including increasing the speed per pin for HBM4 to 10Gbps. Against this backdrop, SK Hynix is expected to maintain its position as the largest supplier during the initial stages of HBM4 mass production.
In terms of price trends, TrendForce predicts that the average selling price of HBM will increase by 20.8% year-on-year to $1.80/Gb in 2025, resulting in considerable profitability. Other organizations predict that the unit price of the 12-layer HBM4 product, launching next year, will reach $500, more than 60% higher than the approximately $300 selling price of the 12-layer HBM3e.
Currently, the HBM price war initiated by Samsung has had a ripple effect on traditional memory chips such as DRAM. The probability is low . According to previous reports from KB Securities in South Korea... Research director Jeff Kim predicts that if the current DRAM price surge continues, the profitability of non-HBM memory chips may even surpass that of HBM next year. He estimates that Samsung's standard DRAM business operating profit margin was approximately 40% during July-September, while its HBM business reached 60%.
According to recent reports, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and other memory manufacturers will continue to adjust their pricing for traditional memory in the fourth quarter of this year. Prices for memory products, including DRAM and NAND, will increase by up to 30% to meet the surging demand for AI-driven memory chips .
(Source: Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily)
