HBM4 shipment race among three memory makers: Samsung touts "first," SK hynix aims for "larger volumes," Micron says "we are shipping too"

According to Financial News, U.S. memory maker Micron stated that it is "mass-producing sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) and has begun shipments to customers," directly refuting recent rumors that it had been dropped from Nvidia’s supply chain. The company stressed that it will not fall behind in the next-generation HBM4 market, where many observers had expected South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to form a two-strong duopoly.
According to the semiconductor industry on the 12th, Micron Chief Financial Officer Mark Murphy said at a semiconductor conference hosted on the 11th (local time) by U.S. research firm Wolfe Research, "Let me address some of the recent inaccurate reports," adding, "We are already ramping up mass production of HBM4 and have started shipments to customers." Those customers are widely assumed to include key client Nvidia.
The timing of customer shipments has been moved up compared with what the company announced last year. Murphy explained, "Shipments in the first quarter of this year are increasing successfully, and this is one quarter earlier than what we mentioned in our earnings release last December."
HBM4 is expected to be installed starting this year in Vera Rubin, Nvidia’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator. The market had been rife with concerns that, unlike Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Micron’s HBM4 was struggling to meet Nvidia’s performance requirements, including speed. Murphy’s remarks were seen as a show of confidence in response to those worries.
Murphy said, "HBM4 yields are tracking to plan, we are delivering speeds above 11 gigabits per second (11Gbps), and we are very confident in the reliability of the product." He went on, "Our HBM production capacity is expanding smoothly, and as we said a few months ago, our HBM supply for this year is already fully sold out."
Equipment orders for HBM4 production also appear to be continuing steadily. Kwak Dong-shin, chairman of HANMI Semiconductor, which supplies Micron with Thermo-Compression Bonder (TC Bonder) tools essential for HBM manufacturing, was asked the previous day about rumors that Micron had failed to secure initial HBM4 volumes for Nvidia. At the "Semicon Korea 2026 Leadership Dinner" held at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam, Seoul, he replied, "Things look like they will go well. We are receiving a lot of (TC Bonder) orders."
As Micron moves aggressively to counter talk that it was dropped, analysts say competition in the HBM4 market—previously expected to be dominated by a "two-strong" structure—will likely become even fiercer. Samsung Electronics plans to begin mass production and shipment of HBM4 for Nvidia after the Lunar New Year holidays, positioning it as the "industry’s first" HBM4 supply. Samsung’s HBM4 is rated at a world-leading speed of 11.7Gbps, surpassing the standards set by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC). SK hynix has not disclosed its timing, but it intends to maintain its lead in the HBM market based on its long-standing relationship with Nvidia and stable production volumes. Some in the industry predict that SK hynix could secure around 70% of Nvidia’s HBM4 supply.
An industry official commented, "As Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have been signaling confidence around HBM4, Micron also appears eager to assert its presence," adding, "From Nvidia’s perspective, it will likely work closely with all three suppliers to reduce dependence on any single vendor and to gain more leverage on pricing."
soup@fnnews.com Reporter Lim Soo-bin Reporter