According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics' slow commercialization of HBM may be related to the HBM core chip DRAM, and the performance of 1a DRAM has hindered Samsung Electronics from providing HBM3E mass production supply to Nvidia. The quality issue of HBM3E was resolved in the latest inspection, which is a positive sign, but the actual impact still exists due to the continuous delay of final quality testing for full-scale production supply.
Nvidia conducted due diligence on the 8th floor HBM3E production line of Samsung Electronics' Pingze Park at the end of last month, and the previously identified HBM quality issues were resolved during this inspection. Due diligence is a customary procedure that must be completed before customers visit a manufacturer's factory, inspect the production line and products, and pass quality testing. It is expected that through this inspection, Samsung Electronics will be able to successfully complete the internal production preparation work of the 8-layer HBM3E, but it remains to be seen whether Samsung HBM3E will immediately supply Nvidia high-performance AI accelerators H200 and B100 in bulk. Industry sources say that the plan is more likely to be applied first to non top performing AI chip products, such as Samsung supplying HBM3 to Nvidia's H20.
Samsung Electronics originally planned to supply HBM3E to Nvidia starting from the third quarter of this year. However, as of now, the HBM3E 8th and 12th layer products have passed Nvidia's quality testing later than expected, and there are reports that the 12th layer products are highly likely to be delayed until the second or third quarter of next year. In quality testing, it is not only necessary to verify the HBM itself, but also to additionally verify the yield and performance of the packaging stage combined with the system semiconductor.
The slow commercialization of Samsung Electronics HBM has complex reasons. But some analysts believe that the problem with HBM is fundamentally a problem with the core chip DRAM. Due to the HBM structure, which vertically stacks and connects multiple DRAMs together, the performance of DRAM is closely related to the performance of HBM. The performance of 1a DRAM has hindered Samsung Electronics from supplying HBM3E to Nvidia for mass production, and there are reports that its data processing speed is lower than other competitors using 1b DRAM.
According to informed sources, Samsung is currently discussing plans to redesign some of the 1a DRAM circuits internally, but has not yet made a final decision as this decision involves various risks. If redesigned, it is expected to take at least six months to complete the product, and mass production will not be achieved until the second quarter of next year. Even if the redesign is successfully completed, considering the market situation, it is actually difficult to supply the product on time.
Another relevant person stated that even if the schedule is delayed, whether to attempt to enter the HBM3E supply chain or actually give up HBM3E depends on whether the 1a DRAM is retrofitted or not. Quan Yongxuan, the head of Samsung Electronics' DS department, has also recognized these issues and believes that there will be more further relevant information soon.