SK hynix, TSMC, and Nvidia unite at Semicon Taiwan

[Courtesy of SK Hynix Inc.]

South Korea’s leading memory chip maker SK Hynix Inc. is set to deepen its collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) and Nvidia Corp. as the global race for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor intensifies.

Industry sources indicated on Tuesday that SK Hynix will announce its plan to better cooperate with Nvidia at Semicon Taiwan, a prominent semiconductor forum, in September 2024. SK Hynix President Kim Joo-sun will deliver a keynote address at the forum, the first time the Korean chipmaker will participate in the keynote session.

Semicon Taiwan is the largest semiconductor industry exhibition in Taiwan, and is organized by the SEMI, an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. The event features global companies showcasing semiconductor materials, equipment, and related technologies, with more than 1,000 companies, including TSMC, slated to attend.

After his keynote speech, Kim will engage in an interactive session with key TSMC executives to announce plans to strengthen cooperation on next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM). SK Hynix will use TSMC’s logic process for its base dies in the production of HBMs as part of this new cooperation.

HBMs are created by stacking core dies on top of base dies and connecting them vertically. SK Hynix has produced the base die using its own process for High Bandwidth Memory 3E (HBM3E) production but will use TSMC’s advanced logic process starting with HBM4.

SK Hynix will highlight achievements, including the reduction of experimental HBM4’s power consumption by over 20 percent from the original target, at the forum.