South Korea’s SK Hynix has announced a partnership with Taiwan’s TSMC to co-develop the sixth-generation HBM (HBM4). The collaboration aims to maintain a competitive edge in the next-generation market, where SK Hynix is currently the sole supplier to NVIDIA, and to keep up with rivals such as Samsung Electronics.
SK Hynix revealed on Apr. 19 that it will work with TSMC to develop HBM4 and start mass production by 2026. The two companies recently signed a memorandum of understanding for technological cooperation in Taipei, Taiwan, setting their sights on developing this advanced memory technology.
As AI chip applications, which are primary users of HBM, become more sophisticated, minimizing power consumption and alleviating data bottlenecks become crucial challenges. This has underscored the importance of densely stacking DRAM more efficiently within limited spaces. By joining forces with TSMC, which leads in advanced packaging technologies, SK Hynix aims to enhance these capabilities further.
Initially, the collaboration will focus on improving the performance of the Base Die, which is situated at the bottom of the HBM stack. HBM technology stacks individual DRAM chips, known as Core Dies, on top of the Base Die and connects them vertically using TSV technology. The Base Die is critical in connecting the GPU and controlling the HBM stack.
While SK Hynix has produced dies up to the fifth generation of HBM (HBM3E) independently, it acknowledges the increasing importance of ultra-precise processes for the next generations. The partnership with TSMC is expected to boost both performance and power efficiency.
SK Hynix aims to produce customized HBM that meets a wide range of customer requirements, focusing on performance and energy efficiency. “This three-way technological collaboration between customers, foundries, and memory manufacturers aims to break through the existing limits of memory performance,” an SK Hynix official said.
Kim Joo-seon, President of SK Hynix’s AI Infrastructure unit, said, “Working with TSMC, we will not only develop top-performing HBM4 but also accelerate open collaborations with global customers.”
Kevin Zhang, Vice President of Business Development at TSMC, highlighted the partnership’s collaborative spirit: “Both companies will continue to work closely on the HBM4 project to deliver the best-integrated product possible, which will be crucial for our customers’ AI-driven innovations.”
