Micron presents another headache for Samsung after winning NVIDIA order

Samsung's local rival SK Hynix has emerged as the largest supplier of high-bandwidth memory to NVIDIA for its AI accelerators. Samsung has been trying to get a piece of this pie as well but it hasn't yet been able to clear NVIDIA's quality verification process.

Meanwhile, Micron has set its sights on taking the fight to the top two Korean memory manufacturers, SK Hynix and Samsung. NVIDIA has approved Micron's fifth-generation HBM3E products and the US-based company has now started mass production.

SK Hynix has severely dented Samsung's profitability in this segment. A high-bandwidth memory order from NVIDIA would be worth billions of dollars, but that still eludes the company. As if trying to close the gap with SK Hynix wasn't enough, Samsung now has to worry about Micron emerging as NVIDIA's preferred secondary supplier.

Several reports indicate that Micron's fifth-generation HBM3E chips have passed NVIDIA's quality verification process. Mass production has now begun and Micron will supply these chips for NVIDIA's next-generation Blackwell Ultra AI accelerators. Micron is now the second memory maker after SK Hynix to get this approval while Samsung is still trying to get it.

Micron currently has the smallest market share in the HBM segment but it has a stated global of hitting 20% by the end of this year. It's rapidly increasing production capacity and has even announced a $7 billion investment to establish a new chip fabrication facility in Singapore.

It's expansion and greater influence in the market could come at Samsung's cost, particularly if the company is unable to fix the issues that have so far prevented it from joining NVIDIA's supply chain for advanced high-bandwidth memory.