[News Article] SK hynix reports explosive sales for AI chips
SK hynix reports
explosive sales for AI chipsKorean
memory chip maker to produce 12-layer HBM3E in Q3
By
Baek Byung-yeul, The Korea Times - SK hynix is cementing its leadership in AI
chips as it has sold out all of this year’s production of high bandwidth memory
(HBM) chip, an AI semiconductor, and is nearly sold out relative to production
capacity for next year, CEO Kwak Noh-jung said Thursday. "Currently,
AI services are centered on data centers, but in the future, they are expected
to rapidly expand to on-device AI such as smartphones, PCs and cars. This will
lead to an explosive increase in demand for high-speed, high-capacity and low-power
memory chips specialized for AI," Kwak said during a press conference at
the company's headquarters in Icheon, south of Seoul. "Our
company has secured the industry's top technology in each product, including
HBM, TSV (through silicon via)-based high-capacity DRAM and high-performance
eSSD (enterprise SSD). We will offer the world's best customer-customized
memory solutions through strategic collaboration with global partner
companies," the CEO added. The
demand for HBM chips, which can process data quickly, has significantly
increased since generative AI services like OpenAI's ChatGPT began to spread
globally last year. SK hynix is leading the high-performance DRAM chip market
with more than half the market share last year. "As
for our HBM products, in terms of production, they have already sold out for
this year, and next year is almost the same," Kwak said. To
further solidify its technology leadership, SK hynix plans to provide sample
products of the 12-layer HBM3E, the fifth-generation HBM, to customers in May
and start mass production in the third quarter, said the CEO. The
chief also credited the high presence of SK hynix in the AI memory chip field
to the bold investment decisions and global networking abilities of SK Group
Chairman Chey Tae-won because the competitiveness of its AI memory chip is not
achieved overnight but through a process of technology development supported by
steady investment. HBM
products, which have strong customer-specific features different from
conventional memory chips, require widespread use by customer companies, which
was made possible due to Chairman Chey's strong networking with global
partners. "SK
hynix was incorporated into SK Group in 2012, and at that time, the memory
market was not in good condition, and most chip makers reduced their
investments by over 10 percent. But SK Group decided to make substantial
investments, boosting morale among its members,” Kwak said. “The decision to
increase investment was made across all areas, including HBM, which had an
uncertain future at that time. As a result, we were able to develop the
industry’s first HBM in 2013.” “Considering
this, Chairman Chey's global networking has established a collaborative
relationship with each customer and partner companies, playing a decisive role
in securing AI semiconductor leadership,” the CEO added. Revealing
its market view this year, SK hynix is quite optimistic about the memory market
as a whole, not just HBMs. “From
the second half of the year, we expect demand from PCs and mobile devices
mobile to improve. Price negotiations and volume negotiations are not as bad as
we thought. The situation continues to be favorable for suppliers, and we think
the market is quite positive this year," Kim Ju-seon, president of AI
Infra at the company, said. Source:
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2024/05/133_373912.html
2024.05.07
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