Samsung confirms next generation HBM4 memory is in fact Snowbolt — and reveals it plans to flood the market with precious AI memory amidst growing competition with SK Hynix and Micron
Samsung has revealed it expects to triple its HBM chip production this year.
“Following the third-generation HBM2E and fourth-generation HBM3, which are already in mass production, we plan to produce the 12-layer fifth-generation HBM and 32 gigabit-based 128 GB DDR5 products in large quantities in the first half of the year,” SangJoon Hwang, EVP and Head of DRAM Product and Technology Team at Samsung said during a speech at Memcon 2024.
“With these products, we expect to enhance our presence in high-performance, high-capacity memory in the AI era.”
Snowbolt
Samsung plans a 2.9-fold increase in HBM chip production volume this year, up from the 2.5-fold projection previously announced at CES 2024. The company also shared a roadmap detailing its future HBM production, projecting a 13.8-fold surge in HBM shipments by 2026 compared to 2023.
Samsung used Memcon 2024 to showcase its HBM3E 12H chip – the industry’s first 12-stack HBM3E DRAM – which is currently being sampled with customers. This will follow Micron’s 24GB 8H HBM3E into mass production in the coming months.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, Samsung also spoke of its plans for HBM4 and its sixth-generation HBM chip which the company has named “Snowbolt,”. Samsung says it intends to apply the buffer die, a control device, to the bottom layer of stacked memory for enhanced efficiency. It didn’t provide any information on when that future generation of HBM will see the light of day, however.
Despite being the world’s largest memory chipmaker, Samsung has lagged behind archrival SK Hynix in the HBM chip segment, forcing it to invest heavily to boost production of what is a crucial component in the escalating AI race due to its superior processing speed.
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
SK Hynix isn’t going to make things easy for Samsung however. The world’s second largest memory chip maker recently announced plans to build the largest chip production facility ever seen at Yongin Semiconductor Cluster in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
More from TechRadar Pro
Samsung has revealed it expects to triple its HBM chip production this year. “Following the third-generation HBM2E and fourth-generation HBM3, which are already in mass production, we plan to produce the 12-layer fifth-generation HBM and 32 gigabit-based 128 GB DDR5 products in large quantities in the first half of the…
Recent Posts
- Thousands of Linux servers infected by Ebury malware
- We gotta stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem
- The Morning After: The biggest news from Google’s I/O keynote
- Dell leak details next-gen Windows on Arm chips, 29-hour laptops, and more
- Canon’s flagship EOS R1 is finally official, and it will have never-before-seen power
Archives
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011