Micron, the world’s third-largest DRAM company, will actively target the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market beginning from 2024. Competition for a bigger market share between Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron will intensify, market experts forecast.
According to industry sources, Micron said in a recent earnings call that it has developed the industry’s best HBM3E product and will start its production in early 2024 and record meaningful sales. HBM3E is a next-gen version of HBMs and is considered to be a higher value-added product than current market-leading products -- HBM2 and HBM3.
Micron is sending HBM3E samples to major corporate HBM customers including Nvidia to let them test their performances. Nvidia has been delivering AI accelerators where HBM is packaged in its graphics processing units (GPUs) to OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, among others. AI accelerators are a key component for servers utilized to advance generative AI services.
Currently, the HBM market is dominated by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. According to market research firm TrendForce, Samsung and SK hynix are expected to enjoy HBM market shares of 46 percent and 49 percent, respectively, with Micron taking the rest of the market in 2023.
Under these circumstances, Micron’s willingness to target the next-generation HBM market next year is expected to have a negative impact on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. This is because Micron’s HBM supply is likely to ease an HBM shortage and heat up price competition among HBM makers. Given that Micron is a U.S. company, analysts say that big players such as Nvidia and AMD may favor products with the same nationality as Micron. “With Micron’s announcement of aggressive market penetration, competition is highly likely to intensify,” said a semiconductor industry insider.