According to a senior executive from SK Hynix, SK Hynix expects the market for a special memory chip designed specifically for artificial intelligence to grow at an annual rate of 30% in the coming years until 2030. This optimistic forecast targets the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, despite growing concerns in the industry about increasing price pressures.
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Choi Joong-young, head of HBM business planning at SK Hynix, said in an interview with Reuters that end-user demand for artificial intelligence is "very firm and strong." He also mentioned that cloud computing companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are expected to increase their capital expenditures on artificial intelligence in the future, which will have a positive impact on the HBM market. Choi pointed out that there is a "direct and obvious" link between the expansion of artificial intelligence and the purchase of HBM.
HBM is a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) standard that has seen significant development since its first production in 2013. HBM saves space and reduces power consumption by vertically stacking chips, a design that can efficiently handle large amounts of data generated by complex AI applications. SK Hynix expects the market for customized HBM to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by 2030.
In terms of technology, SK Hynix, along with competitors such as Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics, is strategically transitioning towards the next generation of HBM4. These new products come with customer-specific logic chips that help manage memory, meaning users cannot easily replace competitors' memory chips with similar products.
Choi's optimistic outlook for the future growth of the HBM market also includes customers wanting higher levels of customization than they have now. Currently, major customers like Nvidia receive personalized customization, while smaller customers accept traditional integrated solutions. Choi said, "Each customer's needs are different; some customers want specific performance or power characteristics."
Although SK Hynix is a major HBM supplier for Nvidia, Samsung and Micron are also providing small-scale products to it. Last week, Samsung warned during a quarterly earnings call that the supply of the current generation of HBM3E may exceed demand growth, a change that could put pressure on prices.