Samsung’s HBM3E chips reportedly get Nvidia’s certification

Samsung has been having problems getting its HBM chips cleared by Nvidia. A few weeks ago, the company’s HBM3 chips received Nvidia’s certification for the Chinese market. Now, Reuters is reporting that Samsung’s HBM3E (fifth-generation HBM) chips have received Nvidia’s certification, clearing a major milestone.

Samsung’s 8-layer HBM3E chips reportedly receive Nvidia certification

A new report from Reuters claims that Samsung’s 8-layer HBM3E chips have received Nvidia’s certification. If this information is correct, the South Korean firm’s memory chips can be used with Nvidia’s AI accelerators. Samsung and Nvidia haven’t signed a deal for those memory chips yet but will reportedly do so soon. Samsung could start supplying its chips in the fourth quarter (October-December) of this year. Nvidia is the biggest AI chip firm in the world, so getting its certification is an important milestone for any component supplier.

According to the report, Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E chips haven’t received Nvidia’s certification yet. People familiar with the matter declined to comment and said it is confidential. Samsung has been trying to get its HBM3 and HBM3E chips certified by Nvidia since last year but was facing difficulties due to heat and power consumption not being good enough as per Nvidia’s standards. Apparently, Samsung has reworked its HBM3E chips slightly to address those issues.

In comparison, Samsung’s primary rival, SK Hynix, will begin supplying 12-layer HBM3E chips by the same time (Q4 2024) Samsung starts supplying 8-layer HBM3E chips. So, Samsung is lagging here despite being the world’s biggest memory chip maker. By the fourth quarter, analysts expect 60% of Samsung’s HBM sales to come from HBM3E chips. In comparison, SK Hynix expects HBM3E chips to account for 83% of its overall HBM sales.

Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are already working on HBM4 chips, which are expected to go on sale sometime in 2026.