SK Hynix has agreed to supply 12-layer HBM4 memory to NVIDIA in the first half of the year, at a price of about 70% higher than HBM3E. According to Korean media reports, the progress of SK Hynix and NVIDIA's subsequent additional supply partners is slower than expected. The outside world predicts that Samsung and Micron have begun to provide HBM4 products in order to enter the NVIDIA supply chain.
With the arrival of the next generation of HBM4, Samsung and Micron are expected to expand their supply share. It is reported that NVIDIA is evaluating product quality tests for the two companies. If the results are good, more cooperation is expected. Analysts believe that this may affect the long-term exclusive advantage of SK Hynix and its price decision-making authority.
Industry news has been reported that the 12-layer HBM4 products signed by SK Hynix and NVIDIA are priced in the US$500 area, which is up 60~70% compared to the US$300 of HBM3E. The reason why SK Hynix can offer such a high price is that it has completed preliminary negotiations before Samsung and Micron, and has achieved the status of leading suppliers, so it also has pricing advantages.
In addition, the design and processing difficulty of HBM4 is significantly higher than that of HBM3E. The key reason is that the "Base Die" (based chip) of the HBM4 brain adopts the wafer foundry process for the first time, and the technology door has been significantly improved. SK Hynix uses 4-nanometer production base Die, which produces production costs about twice that of traditional DRAM, and the number of I/O connectors is more than twice that of previous generations, resulting in a significant increase in overall production costs.
SK Hynix began exclusively supplying 12-layer HBM3E products to NVIDIA in the first half of the year, and achieved impressive results due to its high-priced sales. Its second quarter revenue reached 9.2129 trillion Korean rounds, a record high in a single quarter. At the same time, the company also provided 12-layer HBM4 products to NVIDIA, and was the first to complete the supplier partners for the next generation of Rubin chips in 2025, ahead of Samsung and Micron.
However, Samsung and Micron are also submitting samples to NVIDIA. If the quality is recognized, SK Hynix's "exclusive supplier" status will face challenges. According to reports, NVIDIA is considering a diversified supply chain strategy. Although SK Hynix is more advantageous and undermining status due to its rivals, NVIDIA expects to reduce the risks brought by undermining and lower the price.
Semiconductors pointed out that SK Hynix currently supplies almost NVIDIA's 12-layer HBM3E products and is also the first to complete the preliminary HBM4 partnership. However, in order to reduce the purchase price, NVIDIA has been watching the progress of quality testing between Samsung and Micron, making additional supply negotiations slower than expected. Once Samsung and Micron successfully enter the NVIDIA supply chain, the long-term failure status established by SK Hynix will be affected.
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