SK hynix partners with TSMC to develop advanced AI chips

SK hynix of South Korea and TSMC of Taiwan have decided to jointly develop the next-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM), which is essential to the semiconductor for artificial intelligence, resulting in a technological alliance between the No. 1 companies in the HBM field and the foundry sector, respectively. It is seen as a strategy to solidify their advantage in competition with Samsung Electronics, which is ranked No. 2 in both fields.

SK hynix announced on Friday that it would sign a memorandum of understanding for technological cooperation with TSMC to jointly develop HBM4, whose mass production is expected to begin in 2026.

The two companies plan to improve the performance of the base die, which controls HBM through connection with the artificial intelligence arithmetic unit. In addition, the patented technology of TSMC, Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS), will be applied to SK hynix’s HBM manufacturing technology. The goal is to become the first to mass produce the sixth-generation HBM through this cooperation. SK hynix has been competing with Samsung Electronics for the fifth-generation HBM technology. On March 20, when SK hynix announced its successful mass-production of the fifth-generation eight-stack HBM3E, Samsung Electronics announced that it had developed a 12-stack HBM3E for the first time in the world. With the SK hynix and TSMC alliance, the global HBM and foundry industries will face even more intense competition.


변종국 기자 bjk@donga.com