Samsung Says High-Bandwidth Memory 4 Customer Feedback Is Strong as It Eyes Nvidia, Diversifies Supply Chains
The chip unit at Samsung Electronics said customers had praised the competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory, HBM4, with co-CEO and semiconductor chief Jun Young-hyun citing feedback that suggested “Samsung is back.”
Jun said Samsung still had work to do to further improve competitiveness, as it tried to catch rivals in the fast-growing AI memory segment. Samsung previously said it was in “close discussion” to supply HBM4 to Nvidia, a key buyer of advanced memory used in AI accelerators.
SK Hynix’s CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said competition had intensified quickly and that AI demand had become a baseline expectation rather than an upside surprise. Counterpoint Research data cited in the same reporting showed SK Hynix leading the HBM market in the third quarter of 2025 with a 53% share, followed by Samsung at 35% and Micron at 11%.
On manufacturing, Jun said Samsung’s foundry business was “primed for a great leap forward” after recent supply deals with major global customers. Samsung also signed a $16.5 billion deal with Tesla in July.
Separately, co-CEO TM Roh flagged higher uncertainty in 2026, pointing to rising component prices and global tariff barriers, and said Samsung planned proactive supply chain diversification and global operations optimization to manage sourcing, pricing, and tariff risks.
For MENA operators scaling AI compute (cloud, telcos, and data centers), HBM supply and pricing mattered because HBM was designed to deliver very high bandwidth for AI and high-performance computing workloads.
