SK hynix Completes World’s First HBM4 Development and Readies Mass Production

SK hynix Inc. announced that it has completed development and finished preparation of HBM4 ⁽¹⁾, a next-gen memory product for ultra-high performance AI, mass production for the world’s 1st time.

SK hynix said that the company has successfully completed development and based on this technological achievement, the company has prepared HBM4 mass production to lead the AI era. Through this momentum, the firm has once again proven the AI memory leadership in the global market.

“Completion of HBM4 development will be a new milestone for the industry,” said Joohwan Cho, head, HBM development, SK hynix, who has led the development. “By supplying the product that meets customer needs in performance, power efficiency and reliability in timely manner, the company will fulfill time to market and maintain competitive position.”

With recent increase in AI demand and data processing, the needs for high bandwidth ⁽²⁾ memory for faster system speed are surging. In addition, securing memory power efficiency has emerged as a key requirement for customers as power consumption for data center operation has increased. The company expects HBM4, with increased bandwidth and power efficiency, to be the optimal solution to meet customers’ needs.

HBM4, of which mass production system has been readied, has an industry’s best data processing speed and power efficiency with the bandwidth doubled through adoption of 2,048 I/O terminals, double from the previous-gen, and power efficiency improved by more than 40%. The company expects to improve AI service performance by up to 69% when the product is applied, which will lead to solve data bottleneck and significantly reduce data center power costs.

The company has far exceeded the JEDEC ⁽³⁾ standard operating speed (8Gb) by implementing over 10Gb (Gigabit/second) operating speed in HBM4.

In addition, the company adopted the Advanced MR-MUF ⁽⁴⁾ process in HBM4, which has been proven to be reliable in the market, and the 1bnm process, or the 5th-Gen of the 10-nanometer technology, to minimize the risk in mass production.

“We are unveiling the establishment of the world’s first mass production system of HBM4,” said Justin Kim, president and head, AI Infra, SK hynix. “HBM4, a symbolic turning point beyond the AI infrastructure limitations, will be a core product for overcoming technological challenges. We will grow into a full-stack AI memory provider by supplying memory products with the best quality and diverse performance required for the AI era in a timely manner.”

⁽¹⁾ HBM (High Bandwidth Memory): This high-value, high-performance memory vertically interconnects multiple DRAM chips and increases data processing speed in comparison to conventional DRAM products. There are 6 Gen of HBM, starting with the original HBM which was followed by HBM2, HBM2E, HBM3, HBM3E, and HBM4.
⁽²⁾ Bandwidth: In HBM products, bandwidth refers to the total data capacity that one HBM package can process per second.
⁽³⁾JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council): A standardization body that is the global leader in developing open standards and publications for the microelectronics industry.
⁽⁴⁾ MR-MUF (Mass Reflow Molded Underfill): The process of stacking semiconductor chips, injecting liquid protective materials between them to protect the circuit between chips, and hardening them. The process has proved to be more efficient and effective for heat dissipation, compared with the method of laying film-type materials for each chip stack. SK hynix’s advanced MR-MUF technology is critical to securing a stable HBM mass production as it provides good warpage control and reduces the pressure on the chips being stacked.