Samsung to Supply HBM3E Chips to Broadcom This Year

Samsung is desperately trying to gain a foothold in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, and recent developments suggest it’s on the right track. Amidst reports of it closing in on a deal with Nvidia for its HBM3E chips, the company appears to have struck a deal with Broadcom, often called the second Nvidia. The Korean firm will reportedly supply its fifth-generation HBM3E chips to the American semiconductor company.

Broadcom chooses Samsung as the largest HBM3E supplier

According to a report from Chosun, Samsung will secure more than 50% of Broadcom’s HBM3E supply share. This means the Korean company has succeeded in overtaking competitors and will become the largest supplier for Broadcom. Full-scale shipments will begin in the upcoming months. This could boost Samsung’s chances of securing a deal with Nvidia sooner.

Reports suggest Samsung is struggling to enter Nvidia’s supply chain due to three major technical factors. First, its HBM3E products have not met Nvidia’s thermal standards, which are nearly twice as high as Broadcom’s. The second factor is related to data transmission issues under extreme conditions, such as high temperatures. When integrated with Nvidia’s high-speed communication system, NVLink, the chip may show errors in AI processing. The third factor is difficulty in improving manufacturing yield.

A semiconductor industry insider recently said that Samsung has fixed most of the technical challenges. However, supply negotiations with Nvidia are reportedly moving slowly — SK Hynix and Micron have already secured a large portion of Nvidia’s HBM3E orders. This makes it more difficult for Samsung to enter the supply chain, despite its recent progress.

However, as mentioned above, the Korean firm appears to be on the right track. A recent report revealed that Samsung will supply its 12-layer HBM3E chips for Nvidia’s water-cooled servers. This suggests that a deal between Nvidia and Samsung is nearing and may happen within this year. While Samsung may not become the primary supplier initially, if its chip performance and yield improve, Nvidia may consider revising its supply allocation. Only time will tell if Samsung can succeed in securing a larger supply share.