Samsung to Reportedly Start Manufacturing Its Next-Gen AI Memory Chip in 2026

Samsung and SK Hynix are reportedly gearing up to start mass production of their sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips next year. Dubbed HBM4, the latest memory chip is custom built for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, and brings significant performance and customisability gains. As per the report, Samsung's production efforts will begin first in February 2026, and SK Hynix is said to complete manufacturing in September 2026. Notably, most of these chips will reportedly be used in Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI accelerator system.

Samsung, SK Hynix Reportedly Planning to Manufacture HBM4 Chips

According to South Korean outlet SEDaily, both semiconductor giants will start mass manufacturing HBM4 AI memory chips. Micron and other players in the industry are not expected to begin fabrication of these chips in 2026, which can help Samsung and SK Hynix in creating a bigger divide from the rest of the market. Even among the two, Samsung's production cycle will reportedly begin before SK, in February.

Interestingly, the new memory chips are unlikely to be available to the consumer market, claimed the publication. Instead, both companies have separate deals with Nvidia to offer the HBM4 for its AI accelerator Vera Rubin. A SamMobile report had recently claimed that Samsung had passed Nvidia's quality tests, making it eligible to supply the required chips.

On the other hand, SK Hynix is said to be collaborating with TSMC to adopt a 12nm logic process for the base die, which will function as the brain of HBM4. Samsung is using a 10nm logic process for the same. The memory chip will reportedly offer twice the bandwidth alongside power efficiency gains of nearly 40 percent. HBM4 reportedly also brings cusomisability with AI and non-AI products, offering better integration with chipsets.

Focusing just on the production volume, Samsung's monthly DRAM manufacturing of 6,50,000 units is said to exceed SK Hynix's 5,50,000 units. The same gap is reportedly seen in the production of HBM chips with Samsung leading SK by nearly 10,000 units per month (1,70,000 vs 1,60,000 units).

Despite the mass production, the consumer market is not said to be benefitting as both Samsung and SK Hynix's next year's HBM capacities are reportedly booked by AI companies. This means the ongoing RAM shortage is likely to continue throughout 2026.