(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. plans to start mass production of its fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory chips this year and quickly ramp up their contribution to sales.
South Korea’s biggest company expects its most advanced HBM3e variety will go from contributing just over 10% of total HBM sales this quarter to 60% in the final quarter of the year, executives said after reporting better-than-expected profit on Wednesday morning. The company will be supplying several customers, but is contractually bound to not disclose names, Kim Jaejune, head of Samsung’s memory sales and marketing, said during a conference call.
Nvidia Corp. is the most important client that Samsung and US rival Micron Technology Inc. are courting, and the rapid increase that Samsung forecasts suggests the company is likely to be supplying the world’s leading producer of AI accelerators — which require HBM to function. Local rival SK Hynix Inc. has maintained the lead in being Nvidia’s go-to partner to date.
Samsung has secured Nvidia’s approval for at least some of its AI memory, Bloomberg News reported this week. The company expects its sales of HBM to increase 3.5 times in the second half of the year compared to the first, and the company plans to double its supply of the memory in 2025.
Samsung made the comments as it reported a six-fold surge in net income in the second quarter. Its semiconductor unit earned 6.45 trillion won ($4.7 billion) in operating profit on rising memory prices and robust demand.
--With assistance from Seyoon Kim and Shinhye Kang.
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