NVIDIA Customizes HBM Base Dies via TSMC, Experts See New Moat
NVIDIA is reportedly standardizing HBM production across Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron while using TSMC for base dies, a move experts view as locking capacity and squeezing competitors.
According to reports from South Korea's Seoul Economic Daily, NVIDIA is advancing its next-generation customized High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) solution, known as NVHBM. The plan requires the three major DRAM manufacturers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—to uniformly adopt the most advanced 6th-generation process technology for producing DRAM core dies. As part of this initiative, Samsung will introduce an external foundry partner for the first time in its HBM manufacturing stage, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) contracted by NVIDIA to produce the HBM base dies using its 3-nanometer process.
Semiconductor industry experts note that this arrangement is not Samsung independently ordering from TSMC, but rather NVIDIA directly commissioning TSMC to manufacture the base dies. This strategy aims to reduce performance discrepancies and validation burdens among HBM products from different suppliers. Previously, SK Hynix and Micron had collaborated with TSMC on base dies, while Samsung largely relied on its own process. By mandating uniform DRAM processes and specifying TSMC for base dies, NVIDIA seeks to control data flow efficiency between GPUs and DRAM through standardization.
Analysts suggest that amid severe memory shortages driven by global AI demand, NVIDIA's dominant position in the data center ecosystem allows it to compel these memory giants to align with its customization scheme. If NVHBM volumes increase, it could crowd out access to HBM capacity for other camps such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel, and Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) designers. This deep integration with upstream capacity and manufacturing standards is viewed by experts as a potential new competitive moat for NVIDIA against rising rivals. Details remain based on media reports and expert speculation, without full technical disclosure from NVIDIA.