Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip company, is yet to receive Nvidia’s approval for its fifth-gen high bandwidth memory (HBM3E) chips for AI processors. Reuters recently claimed that Nvidia, which has a borderline monopoly in the AI processor market, has certified the chips. However, it was a false report. The Korean firm clarified that the tests are ongoing but it hasn’t received approval yet.
Samsung hasn’t received Nvidia’s approval for its HBM3E AI chips
HBM chips are a key component of AI processors. These chips provide the processors with massive amounts of fast memory to perform complex AI tasks. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are currently the only three makers of these powerful memory solutions. All of them are vying to supply the chips to Nvidia, the world’s biggest AI processor maker. The American firm had a 97% share in this market in 2023.
SK Hynix and Micron have already secured Nvidia’s approval for their advanced HMB chips. Samsung, on the other hand, has only received the certification for its HBM3 chips for Nvidia’s less sophisticated H20 AI processor. The chip is built for the Chinese market in compliance with export restrictions set by the US government. The Korean biggie received this approval last month, so it is already playing catch-up to rivals.
To make matters worse, Nvidia is taking longer to approve Samsung’s most advanced HBM3E chips. The firm has been testing the solutions for a while but has yet to approve them for use in its AI processors. The recent Reuters report claiming that Nvidia has granted the certification is “far from being true,” the Korean firm clarified. “We cannot confirm stories related to our customers, but the report is not true,” it said.
According to Samsung, the status of Nvidia’s testing of its HBM3E chips hasn’t changed since last month. “As we said during a conference call last month, the quality test is ongoing and there has been no change since then,” Business Korea quotes a Samsung Electronics official saying. Samsung would be itching to see the status change in its favor, though. After all, Nvidia is the biggest AI chip firm in the world. Hopefully, its HBM3E chips will soon make it into Nvidia AI processors.
