Samsung Semiconductor Spotlight

HBM

HBM4 Took Samsung From 21% to 33% of HBM Revenue in One Quarter

HBM, high-bandwidth memory, stacks DRAM dies on a logic base die and sits beside an AI processor in the same package. Samsung lost the HBM3E generation to SK hynix in 2024 on qualification delays and had to discount to win NVIDIA orders. It shipped the first commercial HBM4 on February 12, 2026: 12-high stacks of sixth-generation (1c) DRAM on a 4nm base die, running 11.7 Gbps per pin and up to 3.3 TB/s per stack. Its share then rose 12 points in a quarter. Samsung's HBM bit shipments rose nearly 50% quarter over quarter in the third quarter of 2026 (Reuters), driven by NVIDIA's Vera Rubin. Detail is on HBM.

One roof

Samsung Makes Every Part of an HBM4 Stack Itself

Samsung is the only company that makes DRAM, leading-edge logic and HBM packaging in-house. That is what the HBM4 base die exposes. The base die handles error correction, power and signaling under the DRAM stack, and a finer node gives it more routing for HBM4's 2,048-bit interface. SK hynix buys its HBM4 base die from TSMC on a 12nm-class process, so its supply depends on TSMC capacity; Samsung's runs on its own 4nm lines.

The cost is foundry capacity. Base dies compete with outside foundry customers for the same Samsung lines, and memory pays more per wafer. Custom HBM, where the base die carries logic designed for one customer's accelerator, is the next step: Samsung plans custom HBM samples for customers in 2027 and HBM4E samples in the second half of 2026.

In the chip rings

Samsung Is in Seven of the 10 Tracked Chips, Mostly as Memory

• US planned
• Made abroad

Samsung appears in seven of the 10 chips in the site's supplier rings, mostly as a memory supplier. Tesla AI5 is the one chip where it supplies the logic die, and the only Samsung row with a US site.

Foundry and Taylor

Taylor's First Volume Customer Is Tesla

Samsung Foundry introduced gate-all-around transistors first, at 3nm, but yield problems sent most large outside customers to TSMC. Its 2nm process (SF2) entered production in late 2025 with the Exynos 2600 phone processor, and the market assumes yield is now above 60% (Korea Times, July 2026). Contract chipmaking was still losing money in the third quarter of 2026.

• Taylor, Texas: a $4.745 billion CHIPS Act award, finalized December 2024, supports the fab. Pilot operations began in early 2026; a full-scale ramp was reported to have slipped to early 2027. See Samsung Taylor fab on AustinIO.
• Tesla: a $16.5 billion contract signed July 2025, which Musk said covers the later AI6 chip, runs through 2033 and makes Tesla the anchor customer. The AI5 chip taped out on Samsung's 2nm process in July 2026 and Elon Musk has said volume is expected around mid-2027. TSMC builds a second version of AI5. See Tesla.
• Austin: Samsung has made chips in Austin since 1996, on mature nodes at its S2 fab.

Sites

Samsung Makes No Memory in the US

• Made in US
• US planned
• Made abroad

Every Samsung memory and HBM site is in Korea or China. Its US production is foundry only: mature nodes in Austin today, and 2nm in Taylor once it ramps. Samsung has announced no US HBM production; the first planned US HBM packaging plant is SK hynix's in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Suppliers

Samsung Builds More of Its Own Supply Chain Than Any Rival

Samsung relies less on outside suppliers than TSMC does: its subsidiary SEMES makes bonders and cleaning tools, and Korean chemical makers replaced much of Japan's hydrogen fluoride after the 2019 export curbs (see Process Chemicals). It still cannot route around ASML for EUV, which its 1c DRAM and 2nm lines both use, or Japanese EUV resist.

China

China Exposure Is One NAND Fab and Stockpiled HBM

• Xi'an: Samsung's NAND fab in Xi'an is its only China wafer fab. Its validated end-user status lapsed December 31, 2025, and the US granted an annual license for 2026 that covers operation and maintenance, not expansion.
• HBM sales: US rules since December 2024 bar HBM sales to China. Huawei's Ascend 910C uses Samsung HBM2E bought before the rule took effect.
• Competition: CXMT in Hefei is China's DRAM maker and is working on HBM; see DRAM Fabs.

Profit

Memory Made Samsung's Most Profitable Quarter

Memory drove the record: HBM4 for NVIDIA plus higher conventional DRAM prices. Samsung and Micron both expect memory supply to stay tight through 2028. The full results with divisional figures are due October 29, 2026.

Related coverage

Related Coverage

• HBM
• DRAM Fabs
• TSMC
• Intel Foundry
• Tesla
• I-Cube
• Chip Supplier Rings
• Leading-Edge Logic Fabs