SK hynix begins mass production of HBM3

SK hynix announced on Thursday that it will start mass production of HBM3 (picture), the world's best performing DRAM, and supply them to U.S. semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia. The news came seven months after the world's first HBM3, which was developed in October last year. HBM is a high-performance product with a faster data processing speed than existing DRAMs by vertically connecting multiple DRAMs, and can process up to 819 gigabytes of data per second. This is equivalent to transmitting 163 full HD movies in one second.

Recently, there has been a frenzy of interest by global big tech companies in finding ways to quickly process rapidly increased data volumes. This is mainly why SK hynix is confident that the demand for HBM3 with improved data processing speed and performance will jump. An official from SK hynix said, “We have taken the lead in the market by supplying HBM3, developed for the first time in the world, to customers in just seven months. HBM3 has opened a new market for superfast AI semiconductors.”

Following NVIDIA’s completion of the performance eval‎uation of SK hynix’s HBM3 samples, HBM3 will be combined with NVDIA’s products to be newly launched in the third quarter of the year. Nvidia is expected to supply new products for applications in AI-based high-tech such as accelerated computing. Accelerated computing is a method that improves speed by processing data in parallel. SK hynix plans to increase HBM3 production in line with Nvidia's product launch schedule.

“We have secured top competitiveness in the premium DRAM market by working closely with NVIDIA,” said Noh Jong-won, president and chief marketing officer at SK hynix. “Through open collaboration, we will continue to identify customers’ unmet needs and address them proactively.”


Choong-Hyun Song balgun@donga.com