High Bandwidth Memory Takes Center Stage at Semicon 2024

TaiwanPlus News

Semicon Taiwan 2024 is taking place this week in Taipei. One technology that's in the spotlight this year is High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM. While South Korea dominates the memory market, Taiwan could play a major role in the future.

Transcript

00:00Semicon is Taiwan's biggest trade show for its most important product, semiconductors.

00:06The massive expo takes up not just one, but two of the country's largest convention buildings.

00:11AI has been one of the biggest topics of 2024, and it's no different here.

00:16But if you listen to the executive speaking, there's a specific kind of hardware that

00:20may be key to winning the AI arms race, high bandwidth memory, or HBM.

00:25HBM.

00:26It's HBM.

00:28High bandwidth memory.

00:30But what exactly is HBM?

00:32Many advanced chip packages include both a processor and memory units.

00:37Older memory technologies place single memory units horizontally around the processor, connected

00:42by copper traces.

00:43But high bandwidth memory stacks the memory units vertically, shortening the signal path

00:48and improving speed and efficiency.

00:50The next generation of chips might have memory stacked directly on top of processors, improving

00:55speeds even further.

00:57And in AI, speed and efficiency are the name of the game.

01:01AI uses an awful lot of data that needs to be stored in the right way, in the right place.

01:08And processor technology is increasing faster than memories can keep up with.

01:15While Taiwan can claim to be the king of chips, the king of memory is South Korea.

01:20Two South Korean companies, Samsung and SK Hynix, produce around 90% of the world's HBM.

01:26But in third place is U.S.-based Micron, which is hoping to take a bite out of South

01:31Korea's dominance, aiming to make up 25% of the HBM market by 2025.

01:37And Taiwan may be key to that push.

01:39Micron already assembles much of its HBM at its Taiwanese factories.

01:44Just last week, it bought up excess facilities from other manufacturers in the country's

01:48center and south, reportedly for further HBM production.

01:52This year's Semicon was also the first to feature keynotes from executives of both

01:56Samsung and SK Hynix, another sign of the focus on memory.

02:01And the memory giants see the value of Taiwan as well.

02:04Almost 10 times have visited Taiwan this year, more frequently than any other countries.

02:14Because Taiwan is getting more and more important in the AI industry.

02:21Markets are at the heart of the tech economy, and competition for market share of each component

02:26is fierce.

02:27That's why the stronger focus on technologies like HBM, and Taiwan's potential role in

02:32its production, may make this year's Semicon one for the memories.

02:37Patrick Chun and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.

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