Samsung Launches World's First HBM4 Chip Production, Powering Nvidia's Next AI Platform

Samsung Fires the Starting Gun on HBM4

Samsung Electronics is about to make history in the semiconductor world. The South Korean tech giant will commence mass production of its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, known as HBM4, beginning in the third week of February 2026. This marks the world's first mass production of HBM4, a critical component in the escalating AI hardware arms race.

The chips are destined for Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin AI accelerator platform, scheduled to launch in the second half of 2026. Samsung has cleared Nvidia's rigorous quality certification process, reportedly earning the highest evaluation scores for operating speed and power efficiency.

A Technical Leap Forward

Samsung's HBM4 delivers staggering performance gains. Data processing speeds reach up to 11.7 gigabits per second, exceeding the JEDEC industry standard of 8 gigabits per second by 37 percent and representing a 22 percent improvement over the previous HBM3E generation. Memory bandwidth per stack reaches up to 3 terabytes per second, roughly 2.4 times higher than its predecessor.

A key advantage is Samsung's vertically integrated manufacturing model. While competitors rely on external foundries like TSMC for the base logic die, Samsung produces this component in-house using its 4-nanometre foundry process, paired with its most advanced 1c DRAM technology.

Gaining Ground on SK Hynix

The timing gives Samsung a notable advantage over its primary rival, SK Hynix, which has pushed back its HBM4 mass production schedule from February to March or April 2026. SK Hynix currently dominates the HBM market with approximately 62 percent share, while Samsung holds around 16 percent.

However, the landscape is shifting rapidly. KB Securities projects Samsung's HBM sales will triple to approximately 26 trillion won in 2026, with market share expected to roughly double to 35 percent. Samsung plans to increase HBM production capacity by approximately 50 percent by the end of 2026, targeting around 250,000 wafers per month.

The Bigger Picture

Samsung's Memory Business already recorded an all-time high for quarterly revenue and operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, with revenues jumping over 60 percent year-over-year. The HBM4 breakthrough signals a potential turning point in Samsung's bid to reclaim leadership in the AI memory market, with its official public debut expected at Nvidia's GTC 2026 conference in March.