Samsung’s NVIDIA HBM3E nightmare might soon be over

Winning NVIDIA's approval for its HBM3E memory chips has been nothing short of a nightmare for Samsung. NVIDIA is one of the biggest buyers of high-bandwidth memory chips as its AI accelerators are in astronomical demand across the globe. It needs as many HBM3E chips as it can get, so Samsung would stand to make a lot of money if it began supplying them to NVIDIA.

However, Samsung's chips have not yet cleared NVIDIA's quality tests, even after the company made some changes to them. This has left the field wide open for SK Hynix and Micron to emerge as NVIDIA's top suppliers. The nightmare may soon be over for Samsung, though, as a new report suggests an approval is within reach.

A new report out of South Korea indicates that single-piece chip certification for Samsung's HBM3E chips is virtually a done deal, with NVIDIA branding the chips as “useful.” The finished product certification is reportedly underway and there are high hopes that this hurdle will be cleared as well.

HBM quality tests typically have two parts. The single-chip certification is provided based on the evaluation of an individual memory chip. The finished product certification is granted once the memory chip is stacked along with the other modules and the performance is found to be within requirements.

Samsung would be hoping that this works out in its favor as soon as possible, so that it may begin supplying these chips to NVIDIA. However, an approval and subsequent order may not immediately result in huge profits for the company. NVIDIA has likely locked down the bulk of its supply requirement from SK Hynix and Micron.

So supplies may start off gradually at first, but could pick up steam later on as NVIDIA further diversifies its supply chain, potentially helping Samsung increase its market share in the lucrative HBM3E segment.