South Korean memory chip company SK Hynix expects customer demand for customized high bandwidth memory (HBM) to become stronger going forward.
Demand from customers for optimization of these memory chips, which are paired with AI processors, will lead them to become less of a commodity like other memory chips, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung said during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday.
Sources told TheElec that SK Hynix has HBM supply deals with Nvidia and Google and that these contracts include customizing clauses.
Meanwhile, Kwak also said that HBM bit growth last year was only single digit but SK Hynix expects this to increase to double digits.
Demand for HBM is also expected to be “tight” in 2025, the CEO said.
SK Hynix said in October last year that its HBM3 and HBM3E capacities were already sold out.
In other memory chips, DDR5 sales in 2023 showed a four-times increase from the prior year.
When it comes 1a DRAM production at its fab in Wuxi, China, Kwak said the company last year, in cooperation with governments, secured verified end users as customers. The CEO was responding to US restrictions on trade with China.
Additionally, Kwak also said that the company had no plan to exit the CMOS image sensor business despite the recent drop in demand.
