Nvidia has transformed itself into an AI superpower, becoming the third most valuable company in the world, so it is perhaps no surprise that other tech giants look on with envy and shift their focus to follow suit.
During its recent earnings call, Samsung reported a consolidated operating profit of $4.8 billion in the first quarter (a tenfold increase year-over-year), and company executives revealed a shift in focus going forward.
The plan now is to focus on producing HBM and DDR5 memory and high-capacity SSD chips for the enterprise market, rather than focusing on consumer PCs and mobile devices.
Satisfy the demand
“We plan to increase the supply of HBM chips in 2024 by more than three times compared to last year,” Kim Jae-june, Samsung's vice president of memory business, said on the call, reported the Korea Economic Daily. “We have already concluded discussions with our customers regarding the supply of HBM chips for this year. In 2025, our HBM chip production will double compared to this year. Our conversations with our customers about 2025 volume are also going well.”
Samsung, currently ranked 23rd in the world, has already invested heavily in HBM, but currently lags behind archrival SK Hynix in this area. SK Hynix recently announced plans to build the world's largest chip factory and has entered into a partnership with Taiwanese foundry TSMC to produce HBM4.
Samsung said it anticipates a 50% increase in server DRAM production in the second quarter and a doubling of server SSD production in terms of bit growth. The company believes strong demand for AI chips will continue and chip supply will expand throughout the year.
The South Korean tech giant also revealed that it will begin mass production of its 8-layer HBM3E chips this month.
