SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics, vying to leapfrog in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) race, has shipped out $1 billion worth of the sixth-generation HBM4 over the last four months since mass production, according to sources close to the matter.
The news come as the long-standing No.1 stock surrendered its place to SK hynix, the frontrunner in HBM essential to power AI accelerators of Nvidia and other major chip designers as well as hyperscale datacenters.
SK hynix on Monday commanded KOSPI's largest market cap, edging out Samsung Electronics from the top title for the first time in more than a quarter of a century. The new hierarchy may extend as Samsung Electronics shed more than 3 percent, steeper than 2 percent of SK hynix, in early Tuesday session on profit-taking.
The two chipmakers both shipped out HBM4 from February.
Samsung began mass shipments of HBM4 on Feb. 12 as it bolstered the next-generation HBM customer base to AMD, Nvidia, Google, and Broadcom. It previously said its supply capacity for the sixth-generation chips are fully booked for the year and is making long-term arrangements with some.
The rapid expansion into Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) clients is seen as a key driver for this growth.
"Samsung is expected to see a sharp increase in its HBM shipments next year, driven by a diversified customer base centered on ASIC companies such as Broadcom, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta," said Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities.
Park Yu-ak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, echoed the positive outlook, noting that rising demand for customized ASIC chips will broaden Samsung's HBM profile. Park projected that Samsung’s HBM shipments in 2026 could surge by more than 200 percent year-on-year as global research firms forecast the HBM market to expand 58 percent to $54.6 billion next year.
Revenue for HBM4 series is expected to exceed $1.2 billion by the end of June and will likely bump up second-quarter bottom and top line. Samsung Electronics will release guidance for second-quarter earnings in early July.
According to latest FnGuide consensus, its second-quarter operating profit is estimated at 86.77 trillion won, sharpy higher than 57.2 trillion won in the first quarter and also higher than 62.46 trillion won estimated for SK hynix during the same period.
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