Has Korea's HBM Monopoly Era Come to an End? The U.S., China, and South Korea Engage in Strategic Competition in Memory Chips

Korean Media: The Era of HBM Monopoly in South Korea is Over, as Three Semiconductor Powerhouses Enter the "Battle for Memory"!

On April 16, Korean media outlet Global Economy published an article stating that recently, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) has become the hottest keyword in the global semiconductor industry. While addressing the core bottleneck of AI computing—memory bandwidth—HBM has evolved beyond a mere memory product and is now a central component of AI computing infrastructure.

The current competition in HBM is merely the beginning. This is because the emergence of next-generation standards such as HBM4 and new memory architectures is highly likely to reshape the semiconductor industry's landscape over the next decade.

The key battleground for supremacy in the post-HBM era can be summarized into three countries: South Korea, the United States, and China. These three nations are engaging in a strategic competition leveraging their unique strengths, aiming to secure central positions in the next-generation memory ecosystem.

South Korea currently dominates the HBM market. Leading companies SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have effectively split the surging demand for HBM driven by AI accelerators. SK Hynix maintains its market leadership by supplying HBM to major artificial intelligence GPU companies like NVIDIA, while Samsung Electronics is actively investing in research and development of next-generation HBM technologies.

Experts believe South Korea will emerge as a long-term winner—not just due to its market share. Korean firms have already begun focusing on developing customized HBM, seen as the next phase of competition. Customized HBM involves optimizing memory architecture to meet the specific needs of AI chip design companies and is expected to become a core competitive advantage in the upcoming HBM4 era. Additionally, decades of accumulated microprocessing technology and large-scale manufacturing capabilities are viewed as significant strengths for Korean enterprises.

The United States holds an advantage in system ecosystems rather than memory production scale. Most companies leading the AI semiconductor market are based in the U.S., including NVIDIA, Google, and Microsoft.

These companies serve as critical customers for AI data centers and are at the heart of memory demand. Furthermore, the U.S. is actively advancing next-generation HBM technology, with Micron Technology, a domestic memory company, at its core.

An analysis suggests that by combining memory design expertise with its robust AI software ecosystem, the U.S. stands a strong chance of gaining control over memory, transforming it from a mere component into an indispensable part of the entire system.

Despite stringent technological regulations, China’s semiconductor industry continues to grow rapidly. Leading memory manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies persistently develops DRAM technology, while China continues increasing investments to enhance its semiconductor self-sufficiency.

Although Chinese companies currently lag slightly in cutting-edge HBM mass-production technology, they are steadily enhancing their competitiveness thanks to their vast domestic market. Especially against the backdrop of explosive growth in AI services and data center demand, China is becoming a massive testing ground for the development of its domestic memory industry. Experts believe that in the long run, China has the potential to transform a substantial portion of the general-purpose memory market into a self-sufficient supply chain.

Experts predict that future competition in the memory sector will no longer be limited to industrial rivalry but will evolve into a strategic, nation-level contest. South Korea leads in manufacturing capabilities, the United States dominates in system ecosystems, and China is rapidly catching up thanks to its enormous market. The competition among these three nations is highly likely to become a key determinant shaping the direction of AI semiconductor development over the next decade.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1862626110125068/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s).