An executive of SK hynix said Thursday the firm will cooperate with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) of the United States to supply highly-advanced chips for data-intensive devices.

“SK hynix will mass-produce high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips by using state-of-art through-silicon via (TSV) technology from the latter half of next year at our DRAM plant in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province,” the executive told The Korea Times by telephone.

“We will partner with AMD to meet the explosive worldwide demand for HBM chips.” SK hynix is the world’s second-biggest computer chipmaker, and AMD is the world’s No. 2 supplier of microprocessors based on x86 architecture and also one of the largest suppliers of graphic processors.

The executive said the firm will ship HBM chip samples to its current customers within the first half of next year, without disclosing their names. SK hynix spokesman Son Kyung-bae said it has successfully developed HBM chips based on the TSV technology. Edelman Korea, a PR agency for AMD Korea, said it was not aware of the deal between SK hynix and AMD.

SK hynix is the first within the industry to confirm its plan to provide the next-generation chips. TSV technology allows memory and logic circuitry to be place in the same package.

The chip offers enhanced memory performance with significantly less power consumption. TSV is used for mobile processors such as tablets and smartphones. The executive said SK hynix has been consistent in boosting its investment in TSV technology. “The HBM chips will initially be used in high-end graphic processors before being incorporated into super computers, networks and servers later,” he said.

On a related note, the world’s biggest chipmaker Samsung said it has already acquired the needed technology for chips based on TSV technology. However, it remained tight-lipped on the details.

“Mass production will be dependent upon customer demand and Samsung Electronics has yet to finalize the timing of mass production of memory chips using TSV technology. We will talk with our customers regarding this,” said Lee Won-ho, a spokesman of Samsung Electronics.

The global memory chip industry is going through a new trend after decades of value destruction, bankruptcies and exits. The market has low growth but is highly-concentrated, rational and value-creating.

The moves by SK hynix and Samsung Electronics for high-end chips based on the TSV technology comes on the heels of changes in technological complexity, declining supply growth and barriers to new entrants, according to company officials.

“This complexity further discourages new entrants as the cost to enter is higher than ever,” said Mark C. Newman, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong.

By: DocMemory
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