Micron steps up pursuit of Samsung, SK Hynix in HBM market
Micron Technology, along with other leading artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor companies such as Intel, has stepped up its efforts to challenge the industry leader, according to foreign media reports.On December 24, Micron, the world's third-largest DRAM maker, is currently in the midst of a quality assessment of its development of HBM3E by major customers, according to semiconductor industry sources.
High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is a type of DRAM used in AI servers that features stacking multiple types of DRAM to enhance data processing power and speed. The global HBM market, currently dominated by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, is expected to grow from about 2.5 trillion won this year to about 8 trillion won by 2028.
Micron Technology is expected to have a market share of about 5 percent in 2023, placing it in third place. The company is betting heavily on its next-generation product, the HBM3E, to close the gap with the leaders. Micron executive Sanjay Mehrotra said, "We are in the validation phase of delivering HBM3E for Nvidia's next-generation AI gas pedal."
The AI gas pedal market, where HBM and GPUs are bundled together, also faces stiff competition. AI gas pedals are semiconductors specialized for large-scale data training and inference, and are considered critical in the era of generative AI.
Intel is making significant efforts in this area. on December 14, Intel unveiled the Gaudi3 next-generation AI gas pedal prototype, which offers up to a 4x speedup and a 1.5x HBM boost over its predecessor. Intel exec Pat Gelsinger, who has been openly critical of NVIDIA in the AI gas pedal space, said, "As the importance of data reasoning [services] continues to grow, the era of NVIDIA's focus on data training is coming to an end."
The third-place reversal across AI semiconductor segments is driven by the market's growth potential. The AI gas pedal market is currently valued at $30 billion and is projected to expand to $150 billion by 2027, according to AMD. the HBM market is projected to grow at 50 percent per year for the next five years.
Customers' desire to check the dominance of leading companies has also spurred new players to enter the market aggressively. For example, major AI gas pedal market players such as Microsoft are urging companies such as AMD and Intel to develop alternatives to Nvidia. In the HBM market, one customer has advanced $600 million to support Micron's new product development.
The market is working to expand its leadership position with new products. In the HBM market, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are developing the sixth generation of HBMs, HBM4, which is expected to utilize "hybrid bonding" technology to increase capacity while reducing size. Nvidia is developing the "X100" AI gas pedal, expected to be released in 2025, which will increase memory usage to 400 GB.
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