SK hynix expects increase in sales of high-end HBM chips

SK hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, said Wednesday it expects a significant increase in the portion of its high bandwidth memory (HBM) chip sales relative to total DRAM sales.

“Last year, sales of HBM chips accounted for a single-digit percent of the company’s entire DRAM sales,” CEO Kwak Noh-jung said during a general shareholders meeting. “This year, the number of bits of HBM sales will rise to a double-digit percentage of total DRAM sales, which will help our profitability.”

HBM chips, integral components used for AI computing, have garnered increasing attention with the rise of applications such as generative AI, exemplified by models like ChatGPT.

SK hynix is considered a leader in the HBM industry as it has begun mass production of the latest fifth-generation HBM3E chips.

These chips are slated for supply to U.S. AI chip giant Nvidia, solidifying SK hynix’s role as a key supplier in the AI computing ecosystem.

Kwak stressed that his company will make constant efforts to keep the market leadership by strengthening competitiveness of its HBM products.

Regarding recent media reports suggesting SK hynix’s plans to build an advanced chip packaging facility in Indiana, Kwak clarified that nothing has been confirmed yet, indicating that the company is still in the process of evaluating its options.