Samsung Announces Shift to 'Co-design' Model for AI Memory, Details zHBM Roadmap
Samsung's DRAM head states that AI memory must move beyond customization to joint design with customers, projecting zHBM to offer 8x performance over HBM5.
At the Tech Summit 2026 held in Seoul on October 28, 2026, Kim Kyung-yoon, Executive Vice President of the DRAM Development Group at Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division, announced a paradigm shift in the company's artificial intelligence (AI) memory business model. The strategy moves away from traditional commodity mass production or simple customer customization toward a 'Co-design' approach, where memory solutions are jointly developed with semiconductor clients from the planning stage.
Kim explained that while current High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) products are customized for specific clients, the heterogeneity of future GPU architectures requires deeper integration. "Customers' GPUs vary significantly in structure," Kim stated. "It is impossible to combine a uniform HBM product with various customers' AI semiconductors." This necessitates a new operational model capable of supporting 'high-mix, high-volume' production through collaborative engineering.
Central to this strategy is zHBM, a next-generation memory architecture featuring vertical stacking of HBM directly on top of the GPU, contrasting with the current 2.5D side-by-side placement. Samsung projects that zHBM will deliver up to 8 times the performance and 3 times the power efficiency of HBM5, which is scheduled for release in 2028. Commercialization of zHBM is expected after 2029.
This announcement highlights the evolving dynamics of the AI hardware supply chain. While recent reports indicated NVIDIA pushing for standardized base dies via TSMC to reduce validation burdens, Samsung's emphasis on 'Co-design' suggests a counter-strategy: leveraging its integrated capabilities in memory, foundry, and logic design to lock in closer relationships with key AI chipmakers. Kim noted that success in the zHBM era depends on comprehensive capabilities across these domains, an area where Samsung holds a competitive advantage over pure-play memory vendors.