[News] SK Hynix Accelerates HBM4E Development, Aiming for Mass Production by 2026

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SK Hynix has updated its latest timeline regarding HBM4E, the company’s 7th generation high bandwidth memory, on Monday. According to reports from Wccftech and TheElec, the memory heavyweight’s generation changes of two-year gap has been shortened to one, and is now on track to launch HBM4E by 2026.

The news was revealed by Kim Gwi-wook, head of SK Hynix’s HBM advanced technology, during the International Memory Week 2024 held in Seoul yesterday. Earlier in February, Chun-hwan Kim, Vice President of SK Hynix, stated that the company plans to commence large-scale production of HBM4, their sixth generation of the HBM family, in 2026, as well.

According to TheElec, HBM4E will be the first chip from SK Hynix to be made through its 10-nanometer (nm) class Gen 6 (1c) DRAM. It is reportedly to be made of 32Gb DRAM and use 1c DRAM as the core die.

According to Wccftech, HBM4E’s feature bandwidth is said to be 1.4 times higher than that of its predecessor, HBM4. This indicates a significant enhancement in power efficiency, providing a preview of the advancements we can anticipate in next-gen AI accelerators.

Earlier in April, SK Hynix announced it has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with TSMC for collaboration to produce next-generation HBM and enhance logic and HBM integration through advanced packaging technology. The company plans to proceed with the development of HBM4, or the sixth generation of the HBM family, slated to be mass produced from 2026, through this initiative.

Samsung, SK Hynix’s major competitor on memory, also schedules to start mass production of HBM4 in 2026.

(Photo credit: SK Hynix)