Samsung to use TSMC 3nm process for Nvidia NVHBM base dies
What happened
Samsung Electronics will use TSMC's 3-nanometre process to produce the base dies for Nvidia's next-generation custom high-bandwidth memory (NVHBM) chips, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on Sunday, as carried by Reuters. It would be the first time Samsung has worked with TSMC at the HBM manufacturing stage. Nvidia has asked all three of its HBM suppliers — Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron — to use TSMC's process for NVHBM base dies and sixth-generation (1c) DRAM technology for the core dies. Samsung accepted Nvidia's requirements after an internal review, while planning to retain its in-house production model for standard HBM and custom products for other customers, and is assessing whether its own foundry could produce NVHBM base dies if demand exceeds TSMC's capacity.
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Who’s affected
- NVDA (watchlist) — standardization of NVHBM across suppliers should deliver more consistent performance and de-risk supply for its next-gen GPUs; modest positive
- TSMC (TSM) — incremental 3nm base-die volume from Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron; reinforces its grip on the AI supply chain; modest positive
- Samsung Electronics — concedes its in-house turnkey HBM model to meet Nvidia's spec, but secures qualification for next-gen Nvidia memory; mixed-to-modest-positive
- Micron (MU) and SK Hynix — face the same TSMC-3nm base-die requirement; standardization reduces supplier differentiation but locks in their roles in Nvidia's supply chain; mixed
- Memory/HBM sector — Nvidia's standardization push lowers validation burden and could accelerate NVHBM adoption across AI accelerators
Sources