Nvidia CEO wants SK hynix to advance supply of HBM4 chips by 6 months

Seoul : Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has asked SK hynix to deliver its next-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM), named HBM4, six months earlier than scheduled amid rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said on Monday.

"Last time we met, he asked me to bring forward by six months the supply schedule of HBM4, which had already been set," Chey said in his keynote speech at the SK AI Summit 2024 in Seoul.

SK hynix is a key supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia. It became the first in the world to supply fifth-generation eight-layer HBM3E chips to Nvidia in March and recently initiated mass production of its advanced 12-layer HBM3E chips, reports Yonhap news agency.

The company earlier announced plans to supply the upcoming HBM4 chips in the second half of next year.

Huang's request highlighted the soaring demand for Nvidia's AI accelerators, which heavily rely on HBM chips for data and energy-intensive tasks as AI technology advances beyond text-based models.

During a session of the SK AI Summit, the Nvidia CEO stressed the partnership with SK hynix in a video message, calling the latter's development plan "super aggressive" but "super necessary."

In response to rising demand for higher-performance HBM, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung announced the development of 16-layer HBM3E chips, with plans to produce it in the first half of next year.

In a keynote, meanwhile, Chey emphasized the trilateral partnership among SK hynix, Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in building the supply chain of the global AI chip industry.

"When Nvidia comes up with new, more advanced GPUs, it requires more HBM chips," Chey explained. "That's why SK hynix is working hard to keep up. Developing advanced HBM products and maintaining high yields is challenging, so closer cooperation with Nvidia is essential."

Chey also stressed close partnership with TSMC, the world's largest foundry, or semiconductor contract manufacturing company.

During Chey's keynote speech, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and TSMC CEO C.C. Wei delivered video messages for the AI Summit 2024, while Huang participated in an online conversation with Professor David Patterson from UC Berkeley.