SK Hynix has completed the development of HBM4 and established a mass production system, becoming the world's first manufacturer to commercialize HBM4. This product adopts a 12-layer stack of 24Gb DRAM chips, with a single-module capacity of 36GB and a bandwidth of 2TB/s—doubling that of HBM3E. Its energy efficiency is increased by 40%, and when integrated into AI systems, the performance can be enhanced by up to 69%. The first batch of HBM4 will officially enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2025, mainly supplying NVIDIA's next-generation AI chip Rubin platform. SK Hynix has also signed a long-term supply agreement with OpenAI, with a target monthly production capacity of 900,000 units.
In addition to NVIDIA, SK Hynix has entered into a cooperative partnership for the "Stargate" project with OpenAI. Over the next four years, it will provide high-performance HBM to OpenAI and jointly build an Asian AI data center in southwestern South Korea, with an initial capacity of 20 megawatts. Meanwhile, SK Hynix has also secured HBM orders from Broadcom, which will be used in the custom AI chips developed by Broadcom for Google, Meta, and ByteDance. This has driven the adjustment of SK Hynix's 2025 HBM production capacity from the original plan of 140,000-150,000 units per month to 160,000-170,000 units per month.
SK Hynix has deployed the first mass-produced High-NA EUV lithography machine (ASML EXE:5200B) at its Icheon M16 factory. The numerical aperture has been increased from 0.33 to 0.55, which can improve the precision of circuit patterns by 1.7 times, laying the foundation for the mass production of memory chips in the 2030s. Over the next two years, it plans to add 20 more EUV equipment units (including 2 High-NA units) with a total investment exceeding 6 trillion won, focusing on expanding the production capacity of HBM4 and advanced DRAM.
SK Hynix is developing 32Gb DRAM bare dies based on the 1c nm process, which will be used in the next-generation HBM4E memory. It is expected that HBM4E will be launched in 2026; the 12-layer stacked version will have a capacity of 48GB, and its bandwidth will be further increased by 40% compared with HBM4. In addition, it will adopt logic bare dies manufactured by TSMC to optimize yield rates.
In the third quarter of 2025, SK Hynix's operating profit reached 7.03 trillion won (approximately 5 billion US dollars), achieving significant year-on-year growth, mainly driven by the surge in HBM demand. SK Hynix holds over 70% of the global HBM market share and 39.5% of the DRAM market share, surpassing Samsung for the first time to become the world's top player in the DRAM segment.
Driven by the AI dividend, SK Hynix's stock price soared from 73,000 won at the beginning of 2025 to 439,000 won, with an increase of nearly 500%. Its market value reached 220.7 billion US dollars, making it the best-performing company in the South Korean stock market.
Starting from December 31, 2025, the United States will revoke the "Validated End-User" (VEU) license for SK Hynix's factories in China, restricting the import of advanced semiconductor equipment. SK Hynix plans to apply for an exemption for EUV equipment imports within the 120-day grace period and accelerate the construction of a localized supply chain. It aims to increase the proportion of domestically produced equipment to 50% by 2027 to maintain the production capacity of 192-layer NAND at its Dalian factory.
Although SK Hynix has not built factories directly in Europe, its affiliated company SKC has started the construction of Europe's largest copper foil factory in Poland, with an annual output of 50,000 tons. This factory will provide material support for SK Hynix's memory chip production in Europe and also comply with the requirements for sustainable supply chains under the EU's "Chips Act 2.0".
Due to the oversupply of HBM3E, Samsung has launched price reduction promotions. Micron, on the other hand, plans to mass-produce HBM4 in the second quarter of 2026, with a transmission rate of 11Gbps. However, relying on its technological leadership and capacity advantages, SK Hynix is expected to account for more than 70% of NVIDIA's HBM4 procurement volume in 2026.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the price of HBM3E will remain at a high level of 180-200 US dollars per unit, and HBM4 will have a premium of over 30% in the early stage of its launch. According to TrendForce's forecast, the global HBM market size will exceed 20 billion US dollars in 2026, and SK Hynix will still dominate the market.
In summary, leveraging the first-mover advantage of HBM4 and capacity expansion, SK Hynix is deeply benefiting from the global AI wave. At the same time, it is actively responding to geopolitical risks to consolidate its leading position in the memory chip sector.
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