Samsung Electronics has begun mass production of its HBM4 high-bandwidth memory and shipped commercial units to customers, establishing an early market position for the next generation of the technology.
The South Korean chipmaker said it used its sixth-generation 10 nanometre-class DRAM process, known as 1c, to achieve stable yields and what it described as industry-leading performance from the outset without additional redesigns.
HBM4 delivers a consistent transfer speed of 11.7 gigabits per second, which can be increased up to 13 gigabits per second, Samsung said.
That represents a roughly 46% improvement over the 8 gigabits per second industry standard and a 1.22 times increase over the 9.6 gigabits per second maximum of HBM3E, the previous generation.
Total memory bandwidth per single stack rises to a maximum of 3.3 terabytes per second, 2.7 times higher than HBM3E.
Using 12-layer stacking, capacities range from 24 gigabytes to 36 gigabytes, while 16-layer stacking will expand offerings up to 48 gigabytes.
To handle the doubling of data input/output pins from 1,024 to 2,048, Samsung said it integrated low-power core die designs alongside low-voltage through-silicon via and power distribution network optimisations, delivering a 40% improvement in power efficiency, 10% better thermal resistance and 30% greater heat dissipation compared with HBM3E.
"Instead of taking the conventional path of utilising existing proven designs, Samsung took the leap and adopted the most advanced nodes like the 1c DRAM and 4nm logic process for HBM4," said Sang Joon Hwang, executive vice president and head of memory development at Samsung Electronics.
The company said its integrated design and manufacturing resources, including design-technology co-optimisation between its foundry and memory divisions and in-house advanced packaging expertise, support resilient supply and streamlined production.
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Samsung anticipates that HBM sales will more than triple in 2026 compared with 2025 and said it is expanding HBM4 production capacity.
Sampling for HBM4E, the next iteration, is expected to begin in the second half of this year, with custom HBM samples reaching customers from 2027.
The Recap
- Samsung began mass production and shipped commercial HBM4 products.
- HBM4 delivers consistent 11.7Gbps speed, scalable up to 13Gbps.
- Sampling for HBM4E expected in the second half of the year.
