SK Hynix to Start Early Mass Production of 12-Layer HBM3E

On September 4th, SK Hynix President Kim Joo-sun delivered a keynote address at "Semicon Taiwan 2024" focusing on the future of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and advanced packaging technologies tailored for the AI-driven era. During his speech, he announced that SK Hynix will begin mass production of its 12-layer fifth-generation HBM3E product this September, ahead of its original schedule for the fourth quarter.

"The 8-layer HBM3E product has been in supply since early this year, marking the industry's first such product, and the 12-layer version will enter mass production by the end of this month," Kim noted. This advancement is expected to significantly enhance data transmission speeds and efficiency, crucial for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Park Moon-pil, Vice President of HBM Product Engineering at SK Hynix, emphasized the company’s strides in HBM technology during an interview. "Our HBM PE team possesses the technical expertise to quickly identify areas for product improvement and ensure stable mass production," he stated. "Following enhanced internal verification processes, we successfully passed customer tests for the integrity of HBM3E. Moving forward, we will strengthen the quality verification and customer certification capabilities of our 12-layer HBM3E and next-generation HBM products, such as the 6th-generation HBM4, to maintain our industry-leading competitiveness."

SK Hynix also announced plans to introduce a 12-layer HBM4 in the second half of 2025, with a 16-layer version set for 2026. As for packaging technology for the 16-layer HBM4, the company will decide whether to use the existing MR-MUF or switch to Hybrid Bonding to reduce thickness.

In addition to its advancements in HBM3E, SK Hynix is preparing to launch the industry's highest-capacity enterprise-grade SSD (eSSD) based on the latest quad-level cell (QLC) technology. Compared to traditional hard drives (HDDs), this new eSSD will offer improvements in capacity, speed, and efficiency. "We plan to introduce a 120TB model, significantly boosting energy efficiency and space optimization in future storage solutions," Kim revealed.