Samsung HBM4 Mass Production Starts This Month!

Industry insiders reveal that Samsung Electronics is set to start mass production of the world's first sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, HBM4, in late February, just after the Lunar New Year. The new memory will be integrated into NVIDIA's upcoming AI accelerator, Vera Rubin.

Samsung, with the largest global memory production capacity and the broadest product lineup, is reclaiming its edge in memory technology by being the first company to mass-produce the highest-performance HBM4. While the current HBM market is still dominated by fifth-generation HBM3E chips, experts expect HBM4 to quickly become standard for next-generation AI accelerators.

The HBM4 modules have already passed NVIDIA's quality certification and are included in initial orders. Production schedules have been adjusted to align with the launch timeline of the Vera Rubin accelerator, and the number of HBM4 samples has been significantly increased to support module testing.

The launch of Samsung's HBM4 production comes amid a worsening global memory supply crunch, driven by the explosive growth of generative AI services. Strategic production cuts between 2022 and 2023 redirected capacity from general-purpose DRAM to high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators and data center GPUs. This shift has caused a severe shortage of traditional DDR4 and DDR5 memory. By September 2025, Samsung expanded its 1c DRAM capacity to 60,000 wafers per month, focused on HBM4 production, and plans to boost HBM4 output by 70% to meet demand from NVIDIA and AMD.

The memory shortage is already impacting the consumer electronics sector. For instance, Qualcomm reported significant production delays, with CEO Cristiano Amon attributing a predicted 13% drop in smartphone revenue entirely to memory constraints.

Tech giants such as Google, AWS, Microsoft, and Meta have placed open-ended orders for memory, willing to pay premium prices to secure supply. In October 2025, OpenAI partnered with Samsung and SK Hynix for its “Stargate” AI infrastructure project, potentially consuming up to 40% of global DRAM output.

Rising memory demand and prices have driven substantial profits for Samsung and SK Hynix. Even NVIDIA, usually able to secure ample memory, has asked Samsung to accelerate HBM4 deliveries despite ongoing quality tests, highlighting the extreme pressure in the market.