Nvidia Supplier SK Hynix Sees Share Surge with Start of Mass Production of Latest HBM Chips, Reports Reuters

By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares of SK Hynix surged over 9% on Thursday following the company’s announcement of mass production of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, positioning itself favorably to meet the surging demand stemming from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

As the world’s second-largest memory chip manufacturer, SK Hynix’s stock performance outshone that of its larger competitor, Samsung Electronics, which saw a 4% rise attributed to a positive outlook on AI demand from Micron’s recent announcements.

The company stated that it has launched the world’s first next-generation HBM product, known as HBM3E, featuring 12 layers and a 50% increase in capacity compared to the previous eight-layer models. SK Hynix, a primary supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia, plans to provide these new products to unnamed clients by the end of the year.

The competition in the HBM chip market is intensifying, as these chips play a crucial role in processing vast datasets for AI training and are essential components for Nvidia’s graphics processing units. In July, Samsung Electronics indicated its intention to deliver production-ready HBM3E 12-high units to clients in the latter half of the year.

Micron also announced earlier this month its shipment of production-ready HBM3E 12-high units to significant industry partners for testing and qualification.

The benchmark stock index in South Korea rose by 1.7%.